JetBlue's new Terminal 5 at JFK under construction
In March 2008 I was fortunate to tour the new terminal under construction.
Customers and crew arrive via either the upper level roadway...
Through the tubes that connect the new terminal to the Saarinen building, or...
Via an walkway and escalator from the Air Train.
Two large check in areas flank security in the center of the terminal.
Security will feature 20 lanes, including a dedicated crew line.
Once through security one proceeds through a short hall into the central food court and concession area.
if one looks to the left as one enters the food concourse one can see what will be a sit down restaurant and the North Concourse.
To the right is the south concourse.
and if one walks straight ahead across the food court the main concourse will be found.
The terminal is well lit from above by large banks of skylights.
A section of the original terminal referred to as the "Trumpet" is mated to the end of the Main concourse. Orignally planned to be a airport viewing area, it's fate now is uncertain.
All the gates now have jetways on them. They apparently are indentical in operation to those on Terminal 6.
Here we see the outbound baggage room. The new terminal 5 has more than 2.5 miles on convey belts.
Crewmembers will use an elevator to reach the lower level. When they exit the elevator and pass through a door they will find...
a large crew room shared by pilots and flight attendants.
it is interesting to note the baggage conveyers that run above the ceiling of all the crew rooms
The Chief Pilot's office will mostly be made up of cubicals.
There will of course be a room to store crew bags in.
As well as seperate, dedicated quiet rooms with recliners for pilots and flight attendants.
There will be a large kitchen on one side of the crew room...
and a classroom for training. Again we can see the baggage conveyors in the ceiling space.
Arriving crew and customerswill pass through the food court to reach an escalor to the lower level. We can see the ramps leading from security down to the foodcourt on either side of the stairs.
A hallway similar to the one from security to the food court, and directly underneath it, connects the escalators to baggage claim on the lower level.
As one enters the baggage claim area one finds three baggage carousels to the left and three to the right.
And if one proceeeds straight out the main door one is rewarded with a great view of the back of the Saarinen building!
Drivers entering the terminal to pick up customers will pass under the old tubes that connected the Saarinen building to the two flight wings.
The driver will also get a great view of the back side of the old Terminal 5.
Here we see the exposed orginal steelwork of the north tube as it is being mated to it's "Catcher's mitt".
Copyright © 2008, Ian A. Duncan
Revised 3/12/2008
URL http://www.flyian.net/jetblue/t5const/t5const.htm