History
John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAA LID: JFK) (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport) is an international airport in Queens, New York City, and one of the primary airports serving New York City. The airport is the busiest international air passenger gateway into North America, the 20th-busiest airport in the world, the sixth-busiest airport in the United States, and the busiest airport in the New York airport system, having handled over 62.5 million passengers in 2019. More than ninety airlines operate from the airport, with nonstop or direct flights to destinations in all six inhabited continents.
JFK is located in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Midtown Manhattan. The airport features six passenger terminals and four runways. JFK is one of only six airports in the United States, with New York–LaGuardia, Seattle/Tacoma, Chicago–O'Hare, San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), that is used as hub for more than one of the three U.S. mainline carriers. JFK is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and it is the primary operating base for JetBlue. JFK was also formerly a hub for Pan Am, TWA, Eastern, National, and Tower Air.
The facility opened in 1948 as New York International Airport and was commonly known as Idlewild Airport. Following John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport as a tribute to the 35th President.
Notes
- Prior to the Kennedy Assassination, JFK Airport was named Idlewild Airport after a local country club in the area. Readers will note it referenced several times in Marvel Comics prior to the airport changing it's name.[2]
See Also
- 7 appearance(s) of John F. Kennedy International Airport
- 2 image(s) of John F. Kennedy International Airport