Topic summary

John F. Kennedy International Airport

John F. Kennedy International Airport
Statistics (2025)Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey FAA

John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAALID: JFK) is the primary international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. It is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is the busiest of the three airports in the New York airport system, the sixth-busiest airport in the United States. The airport, which covers 5,200 acres (2,104 ha), is the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Nearly 100 airlines operate from JFK Airport, with nonstop or direct flights to destinations on all six permanently inhabited continents.

JFK Airport is located in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Midtown Manhattan. The airport features five passenger terminals and four runways. It is primarily accessible by car, bus, shuttle, or other vehicular transit via the JFK Expressway or Interstate 678 (Van Wyck Expressway), or by train. JFK is a hub for American Airlines and Delta Air Lines as well as the primary operating base for JetBlue. The airport is also a former hub for Braniff, Eastern, Flying Tigers, National, Northeast, Northwest, Pan Am, Seaboard World, Tower Air, and TWA.

The facility opened in 1948 as New York International Airport and was commonly known as Idlewild Airport. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in tribute to 35th President of the United StatesJohn F. Kennedy.