See inside JFK airport’s new $9.5 billion international terminal

It’s far from finished but the new, $9.5 billion Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport is taking shape. Its first phase is slated to open in mid-2026.

It will replace the current terminal, which opened in 1998.

The terminal, which will be JFK’s largest, is now weathertight. Winding baggage conveyor belt structures have been installed, and you can make out future ticket counters, where customers flying carriers like Turkish Airlines, Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Air China, Taiwan’s China Airlines and others will set down their luggage and show their passports to ticket agents.

The terminal — set to be roughly the size of the two new LaGuardia Airport terminals that opened in the past decade combined — will be dedicated solely to international travelers, which the developers said is key to the design.

“From the very first pen to paper … we had the international customer in mind,” Jennifer Aument, CEO of the New Terminal One, the company developing the project, said at a press conference at the airport last month.

CNBC and other media got a look at the construction progress, led by Aument, in early July as part of what the company said will likely be among the last hardhat tours of the facility before opening day.

The project is part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $19 billion overhaul of JFK. In addition to Terminal 1, the current Terminal 7, currently home to Alaska Airlines and Ireland’s Aer Lingus, will be knocked down for a new Terminal 6, whose first gates are set to open next year. LaGuardia Airport’s revamp, in comparison, was about $8 billion.

As air traffic grows, airports around the country are racing to replace aging infrastructure.

U.S. airports need at least $173.9 billion for infrastructure upgrades from this year through 2029, according to a report earlier this year by the Airport Council International-North America.

“These investments – averaging nearly $35 billion annually – are essential to accommodate airlines and passengers, improve operational efficiency, elevate service quality and customer experience, and fulfill airport resiliency needs,” it said.

The new JFK Terminal 1 is set to open around the start of the 2026 World Cup, when some games will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, about 30 miles away.

More than half of the airlines at JFK are changing terminals in the coming years because of the construction, Aument said.

One thing she pointed to with the new design: “a terminal flooded with light.” That means no basement customs lines.

The departures hall, security lanes and customs will…