Debut is pushed back three weeks

JetBlue Airways was due to cut the ribbon October 1 on its new passenger terminal at its New York JFK home base, but the Associated Press reported late last week that the opening has been pushed back by three weeks, to October 22, to give retail and food concessionaires more time to finish work on their facilities. The newly built Terminal 5, next to the airline’s current home at Terminal 6, is located behind the iconic Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal building, which remains in place and serves as an alternate entrance to the new T5 for flyers who want to walk down its historic tubular passenger corridors. The new JetBlue terminal has 26 gates and a number of passenger-friendly improvements. Among them: Free WiFi throughout the facility; a security checkpoint with 20 lanes, making it “the largest single checkpoint in the country,” JetBlue said; 65 self-check-in kiosks in the lobby, vs. only 40 ticket counter positions; a 55,000-square-foot central marketplace where the three concourses come together, containing a majority of the new terminal’s nine full-service restaurants, bars and cafes; eight fast-food outlets; three coffee bars; six bars/lounges and 25 retail stores. Restaurants include a steakhouse, an Italian trattoria, a sushi outlet, a French brasserie, a tapas restaurant, a Mexican eatery, a burger joint, a pizzeria, and a New York Sports Grill with 48 brands of beer on tap, among others.