New Airline Terminals

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Terminal 5 at Kennedy Airport The slow and painful revival of Kennedy Airport as a world-class international airport gets another boost on October 1 when JetBlue Airways opens Terminal 5. The building was built in record time by New York standards (less than three years) and will give JetBlue nearly three times as much space (635,000 square feet on 72 acres) as it occupies now. The $743 million project encompasses 26 gates, three concourses, and 55,000 square feet of retail space, all of it needed since JetBlue handles about 30 percent of the 47 million passengers flowing through Kennedy each year.

Best features: Travelers will be able to use touchscreen monitors at the gate to order meals that will be delivered to them by one of the terminal's food and beverage outlets (there will be nearly two dozen). Since Terminal 5 was designed after 9/11, security requirements are an organic part of the layout, not a jury-rigged afterthought.

Bad news: The iconic terminal that Eero Saarinen designed for T.W.A. won't be part of T5's debut. Saarinen's now-empty masterpiece will eventually be restored, repurposed, and connected to the JetBlue facilities, however.

Terminal 2 at Raleigh-Durham International The fast growth of the Research Triangle has been mirrored, at least in fits and starts, at the airport. One example: When the first phase of Terminal 2 opens on October 26, it replaces the old Terminal C, which is just 20 years old. But Terminal C became superfluous when American Airlines abandoned its hub there in 1995 and the subsequent tenant, Midway Airlines, went bankrupt and then tanked after 9/11. When the $570 million project is completed in 2011, there will be 32 gates, copious security space, and about four dozen shops and restaurants spread out over 920,000 square feet.

Best features: Phase one will encompass 19 gates, three baggage carousels, and seven security checkpoints, not to mention a number of local vendors among the 26 shops and dining options. That's a fully functioning airport terminal by any standard.

Bad news: Phased development of terminals often means years of picking through a construction site masquerading as a working airport.

The New Indianapolis International Airport Two days after Raleigh, Indianapolis will try to move all of its passenger operations to a completely new terminal. The $1.1 billion project is situated on a greenfield site nestled between the airport's two main existing runways. It's designed to replace the city's 50-year-old terminal and will offer 1.2 million square feet of space and 40 gates. There'll be a new parking facility, too, and passengers will be able to take a moving walkway direct to their rental cars.

Best features: A Civic Plaza with a 200-foot-diameter skylight designed to echo the shape of Indianapolis' most-recognized downtown public space and a dedicated parkway that connects to I-70, the region's major thoroughfare.

Bad news: An overnight, all-or-nothing shift from the existing building to the new terminal, which guarantees that every passenger flying into or out of Indianapolis will be displaced at once.

The Fine Print… The new JetBlue terminal is connected via an enclosed skywalk to J.F.K.'s existing AirTrain, but none of the other three airport projects has a public-transportation component. However, Indianapolis says the median of its new airport roadway can accommodate a light-rail system.

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