JFK Airport Renovating Runways For Superjumbo Jets

With the next generation of such super airliners as the superjumbo Airbus 380—the world's largest commercial airplane—looming on the not-too-distant horizon, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is continuing its plan of aeronautical improvements at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The Port Authority's board of commissioners in late September authorized and awarded the seventh and final contract, valued at $55 million, in a current $179 million construction program to Conti of New York, a division of the Conti Group of South Plainfield, N.J.

A PANYNJ spokesman said Conti will be responsible for work that includes relocating a taxiway and widening runway shoulders to allow for wingtip clearances, a prime consideration in light of the A380 and its wingspan of 261 feet.

The 240-foot-long, double-decker, four-engine behemoth, capable of holding up to 840 passengers, was introduced by Airbus in January and recently concluded its second successful test flight in Toulouse, France. Singapore Airlines is slated to take delivery of the first A380 in 2006. Regularly scheduled 380A service to JFK by any carrier is expected to begin in 2007.

"These improvements and upgrades come during a period of unprecedented passenger volume growth at JFK," said Kenneth Ringler Jr., the Port Authority's executive director.

About 37.5 million passengers used the airport in 2004, with 41 million expected to do so this year and 65 million expected to by 2025, according to the Port Authority.

"It's not simply the A380 improvements that will allow us to meet growth, which can be accomplished best through more passengers on fewer flights—an important fact to keep in mind, given that JFK is in some of the world's most congested airspace," explained Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia. "We and private industry have made a host of improvements with more on the drawing board, including a revamped, mixed-use Terminal 5, an $875 million project that will result in 26 gates to be used largely by JetBlue and to be completed by either 2009 or 2010, because growth needs to be met with land-side and air-side infrastructure improvements."

"To date, we've seen new parking garages, including a $7 million, five-level garage under construction right now at JFK, across from American Airlines' Terminals 8 and 9; AirTrain JFK, which has been running for nearly two years and has greatly improved airport access; improved roadway reconfiguration; utility upgrades to electrical infrastructure and heating and air conditioning and new and refurbished passenger terminals. All these works, in addition to preparations for the A380, will enable us to meet passenger growth in a smart, sensible way," Coscia said.

American Airlines has completed the first phase of its new $1.1 billion terminal project at JFK. Ultimately, Terminal 9 will close, leaving a state-of-the-art Terminal 8 with such features as 67 ticketing positions and an 11,000-sq.-ft. Admiral's Club. Flights to Newcastle, one of England's industrial capitals, will commence in May 2006. By the completion of the project's second phase, expected in spring 2007, the new terminal will have 38 gates.

Meanwhile, at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, a general aviation airport that can handle business aircraft of up to 100,000 lbs., the Port Authority's board of commissioners authorized the installation of arrestor beds, which are intended to safely stop runway overruns. PANYNJ expects the first installations by the end of 2006.

Known as the Engineered Materials Arresting System, the arrestor beds are designed and built by Aston, Pa.-based Engineered Arresting Systems Corp.

"EMAS is made of pre-cast cellular concrete blocks that are 80 percent air and are placed in the safety area at the end of a runway. The blocks crush under the weight of an overrunning aircraft, so that when a plane runs off the runway end, its tires sink into the EMAS to bring it to a smooth, safe stop," explained Kent Thompson, vice president of airport engineering and sales at ESCO's EMAS division

Typically, he continued, between 2,000 and 5,000 blocks that measure four feet by four feet are used to construct the ground-level beds that run from 200 feet to 400 feet in length, and are placed 35 feet to 100 feet beyond the end of a runway.

EMAS has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration as an alternative to the required available 1,000 feet at the end of a runway and already is in place at LaGuardia Airport. "It is also at JFK where the forward-looking Port Authority was the first to install it in 1996 and where it has saved three aircraft," according to Thompson.