John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK/KJFK) (New York City, New York)

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John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAA LID: JFK) is an international airport located in Queens. Originally known as the Idlewild Airport (IATA: IDL, ICAO: KIDL, FAA LID: IDL), it was renamed in 1963 in memory of the late President John F. Kennedy. It is colloquially referred to simply as "Kennedy" or "JFK" airport.

JFK airport is the newest and busiest of New York City's three primary commercial airports. It is the top international air passenger gateway to the United States and is also the leading freight gateway to the country by value of shipments. The airport is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages three other airports in the New York City metropolitan area, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and Teterboro. It is the base of operations for JetBlue Airways and is also a major international gateway hub for Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

The five largest airlines at JFK in market share are JetBlue Airways (27.3%), Delta Airlines/Connection (18.6%), American Airlines (18.5%), British Airways (2.8%), and United Airlines (1.9%).

JFK's outbound international travel accounted for 17% of all U.S. travelers who went overseas in 2004, the largest share of any U.S. airport. In 2000, JFK handled an average of about 50,000 international passengers each day. The JFK-London Heathrow route is the leading U.S. international airport pair with over 2.9 million passengers in 2000. Other top international destinations from JFK are Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. Nearly 100 airlines from over 50 countries operate regularly scheduled flights from JFK. Although JFK is known for its historical role as an international gateway airport for the United States, it also handles a large number of domestic flights. In 2006 the airport handled 42.6 million passengers; Newark Liberty International Airport handled about 35.4 million and LaGuardia Airport about 26 million, making for a total of approximately 104 million travelers using New York's airports.

History
Construction of the airport began in 1942 with modest ambitions — approximately $60 million were spent for its construction, but only 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land on the site of the Idlewild golf course were earmarked for use, which provided the airport's original commonly-used though unofficial name, Idlewild Airport. The airport is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, under a 1947 lease from the City of New York. The airport saw its first commercial flight on July 1, 1948. It was dedicated as "New York International Airport" on July 31 of that same year, although the name "Idlewild" remained in common use and the official IATA airport code was IDL. It is estimated that JFK international provides some $6.6 billion of economic activity and 207,000 jobs in the New York metropolitan region today.

Until the construction of the International Arrivals Building in 1957, the Temporary Terminal was the sole terminal. The growing popularity and advantages of commercial air travel made the expansion of the airport a major need owing to New York's importance as a major center of international commerce and tourism. Another 4,000 acres (16 km²) were allocated to the airport and 8 new terminals were constructed from 1958 to 1971, each designed by one of the airport's main airlines. which become the hub of major airlines such as Pan Am, TWA and the National Airlines.

The Worldport (Pan Am), now Terminal 3, opened in 1962. It featured a large, elliptical roof suspended by 32 sets of radial posts and cables. The roof extended far beyond the base of the terminal and covered the passenger loading area. It was one of the first airline terminals in the world to feature Jetways that connected to the terminal and that could be moved to provide an easy walkway for passengers from the terminal to a docked aircraft, rather than having to board the plane outside via airstairs.

The TWA Flight Center, now Terminal 5, also opened in 1962. Designed by Eero Saarinen, it was sculpted as an abstract symbol of flight. It is considered one of the most architecturally distinguished airport terminal designs in the world. With the demise of TWA, however, it is no longer in use. The main building will be kept as a part of a new Terminal 5 building built by JetBlue.

The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963, one month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The airport received the new IATA airport code of JFK, and since then the airport has become widely referred to by the abbreviation "JFK".

In 1970, National Airlines opened their Sundrome, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. It is now used by JetBlue and is known as Terminal 6. As air traffic in New York continued to grow, both Terminal 5 and Terminal 3 were modified in the 1970s to accommodate new Boeing 747s. The supersonic Concorde, operated by Air France and British Airways, provided scheduled trans-Atlantic supersonic service to JFK from 1977 until 2003, when Concorde was retired by both carriers. JFK had the most Concorde operations annually of any airport in the world.

The cargo operations at JFK were targeted in the 1978 Lufthansa heist and 1967 Air France robbery, inspiring the Nicholas Pileggi novel Wiseguy and Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas.

By the mid-1980s, JFK had overtaken Newark International Airport (now Newark Liberty International Airport) to become New York City's busiest airport.

In 1998, the airport began construction of the AirTrain JFK rapid transit system. Completed in December 2003, the rail network links each airport terminal to New York City subways and regional commuter trains at Howard Beach and Jamaica, Queens.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, JFK was one of the first airports in the United States to be temporarily closed.

On March 19, 2007, JFK became the first airport in the United States to receive the Airbus A380 with passengers aboard. The route-proving flight with more than 500 passengers was operated jointly by Lufthansa and Airbus and arrived at Terminal 1.

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