NEWS |
159-98: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE , November 23, 1998
According to the British edition of Business Traveller, a reader survey showed JFK tied for fifth place among the best airports in North America. And readers polled by the British edition of Condé Nast Traveller ranked Kennedy as one of the ten best international airports in the world.
Business Traveller noted that the Port Authority "has placed 235 customer service representatives in the terminals and other areas, and virtually every terminal is being rebuilt or expanded as part of a $7.4 billion investment by the Port Authority and airlines. A new Terminal One (used by Air France, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines and Korean Air) opened recently, and a new Terminal 4 is under construction to replace the infamous International Arrivals Building.
"A new rail system is also being built to connect the terminals and to link the airport with local train services," the magazine said.
Mr. Kelly said, "Travelers at JFK are seeing new or expanded terminals, new roadways, new parking garages and many other improvements. Construction is under way on the new Terminal 4 and the Airtrain rail link. Kennedy Airport today is the site of one of the most ambitious and exciting airport reconstruction projects in the world.
"And the improvements don't stop with terminals and roadways. In addition to the new customer service representatives, easily identifiable in their red coats, we have expanded and improved customer-service training for airport employees. We have put bigger, easier-to-read signs in place, and we've improved the airport's appearance by planting 1,000 trees, 29,000 shrubs and 55,000 perennials to provide a more parklike setting.
"We recognize that we have much work still ahead, judging by JFK's ranking in some categories, such as incoming passport control and luggage retrieval," said Mr. Kelly. "But these surveys are important because they show that our improvements are already paying off."
JFK accommodated a record 31.4 million passengers last year, including 17.4 million international passengers -- more than any other airport in the United States. Its large passenger market enables it to provide frequent flights to numerous destinations with highly competitive airfares, and offer flights to cities not served by many other U.S. airports.
It also handled 1.7 million tons of cargo, ranking it as one of the busiest cargo airports in the world.
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