"American's JFK Terminal Shows Bare-Bones Future of Air Travel "

Monday, October 3, 2005

American's JFK Terminal Shows Bare-Bones Future of Air Travel 
By James S. Russell 
Bloomberg News


That new grey, corrugated-metal lump with exposed tubular truss supports at
John F. Kennedy International Airport isn't an air-cargo hangar. It's
American Airlines Inc.'s new $1.1 billion terminal. 

Those handsome trusses are all that remains of the original plans for an air
gateway that aspired to inspire. Instead, the design fell victim to hard
times in the airline industry. 

The departure curb was to have been covered by a curved gracious extension
of the roof, for example. Now there are only a couple of skimpy canopies. I
advise you to pack an umbrella. 

Inside, the lobby soars upward in a sinuous curve under more of those
trusses, but the skylights that would have beamed welcome daylight into this
grand space were cut, along with attractive surfaces that would wear well. 

Now, you are surrounded by acres of plasterboard and corrugated metal
ceilings, all painted white. American promised some colorful artworks in the
departure hall, but they had yet to be affixed on a late-September visit. 

The new terminal's first 16 gates opened in August; a total of 36 gates will
be in service after American's Terminal 9 is torn down and a second phase
completed in 2007. 

Welcome to the Future? 

With the dim, utilitarian lighting, you will be forgiven for thinking you
have just entered a high-school gymnasium furnished with x-ray machines.
``The Future of Air Travel Has Arrived!'' American crowed in a summer
preview for press and industry. That future is dingy. 

Airlines were riding high when the design was announced in 1999. The
architect and engineer TAMS (now part of engineering giant Earth Tech of
Long Beach, Calif.), had actually shed its usual utilitarian,
water-filtration-plant style, devising the profile of that graceful, curved
roof as an icon. 

Fluttering, ribbon-like forms on the concourse ceilings would have
cheerfully urged weary passengers along the trudge to the gates. More jaunty
arcs would have roofed the airside concourses, making the wait for departure
less fidget-inducing. It would have help banish Kennedy's reputation for
congestion, poor service, and dilapidated facilities. 

But then 9/11 happened and the airlines, including American, went into a
tailspin. It hurt the JFK project particularly, because airlines, not the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, erect and maintain their
facilities. 

Ax Murder 

Cash-strapped American took a meat ax to its design. It replaced TAMS with
DMJM Harris, a plodding, engineering-driven firm that is part of AECOM, an
engineering and construction company based in Los Angeles. 

About all that survived was the vaulted roof over the ticketing hall. Out
went the curves and vaults over the concourses; in went skimpy
departure-gate waiting areas. And out went a tunnel that would've conveyed
arriving domestic passengers directly to the lower-level baggage claim. 

Now they go down one escalator, up another. They make their way through
throngs of departing passengers, then descend on yet another escalator. It's
no fun if you are luggage-laden, tugging children or mobility-impaired.
Decent airports don't subject passengers to such schlepping. 

What a Welcome 

International passengers -- a growing percentage of American's patrons and
profits -- navigate fewer escalators but are instead dumped first into what
appears to be a very cramped greeting hall, then onto an arrivals curb with
all the charm of the underside of the Gowanus Expressway. Welcome to New
York! 

Of course, passengers forced to endure the Third-World conditions of
American's terminals 8 and 9 will find the new structure splendid by
comparison. The Port Authority's scandalous neglect of its Kennedy
facilities has left regular travelers expecting little. 

And what did American save? Nothing. The $1.1 billion price tag is the same
as that advertised in 1999. The worst is that changes in air-travel patterns
and technology tend to make terminals obsolete very quickly. Because they
are so expensive to replace, the trick is to design a building that's
adaptable. (Kennedy, for all the billions spent on it, remains a museum to
terminal design circa 1960.) A terminal that skimps on almost everything is
a terminal that will age quickly and will fail to adapt gracefully. 

Cargo Mentality 

Though a low-fare ethos prevails in air travel today, that doesn't mean that
the low service that often goes with it is a good business strategy. Nor
should that ethos be permanently built into long-term capital investments.
If people are treated like cargo, we shouldn't be surprised if they expect
to pay like cargo. 

New York has a stake in this, too: functional and attractive facilities are
key to the city's success and its perception as a good place to live and do
business. The Port Authority, which lost a great deal of its leadership on
9/11, seems to have slipped back to its old path-of-least-resistance ways,
praying that the airlines will scrape together the dollars it takes to
rebuild ancient structures, such as those that Delta Air Lines Inc. and
United Airlines Inc. endure. 

Regrettably, bare-bones buildings appear to be the new trend: Jet Blue will
try to rebuild the old TWA terminal for $875 million. Architect Gensler's
sketchy design unveiled by the airline suggests a curving, three-block-long
strip mall, stranding Eero Saarinen's obsolete masterpiece as a symbol of a
vanished air-travel gentility amid a sea of departure and arrival ramps. 

Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

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