I haven’t written much about JFK Terminal 5 lately, and really, there’s no good excuse. JetBlue has put together what looks to be a great terminal here that will really make a big difference for people flying the airline to and from New York. Unfortunately, the opening date has slipped from October 1 to October 22, but that’s still not very far off.
Frequent JetBlue fliers will be happy to know that the terrible T6 days are numbered. The terminal itself is fine . . . for an airline half JetBlue’s size. JFK’s frequent delays left plenty of people huddling anywhere they could find a spot to sit for hours and hours on end. It was just way too crowded, and that’s why JetBlue built T5. Here’s a Google Maps snapshot of the two side by side (with T6 on the left).
As you can see, this is a nice-sized expansion in usable space. Not only that, it’ll offer 5 more gates than the old Terminal 6. Now take a look at Terminal 5 a little closer. See that tulip-shaped building in the front with two tubes connecting to the main terminal? That’s the old Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal (at left) that is absolutely a world-class landmark in design. 
When JetBlue decided to take over TWA’s old terminal, they committed to keeping that original structure and build their new terminal behind.
The reality is that you never need to set foot in the original terminal, because the roadway will extend behind that terminal and right in front of the new one. But you’ll still be able to go through the original one if you’d like, and that’s pretty cool.
The new terminal looks really basic with large, airy ceilings and lots of light. It’s definitely inviting but not overdone. Some of the restaurants look pretty interesting as well. Now, I haven’t been there yet, so I can’t really say anything definitive except for one thing . . . this will be far better than the current JetBlue experience at JFK.
If you’d like to see some great pictures of the new space, head over to Towers and Tarmacs.
[TWA Flight Center photo by pheezy via Flickr]
