February 20, 2009

JFK's longest runway to close in '10 from March to June

JFK Airport’s longest runway, which handles 30 percent of Kennedy’s traffic, will shut down for 120 days next year for a widening and repairing project intended to cut travel delays, the Port Authority of NY and NJ said in a statement Thursday.

Bloomberg News says the work will be done in 2010 from March 1 through June 29.

Runway 13R-31L, which is 14,572 feet long, would be widened to 200 feet from 150 feet to allow bigger aircraft. The top six inches of the current asphalt, which was rehabilitated in 1993 with interim repairs in 2004, will be milled up and replaced with 18 inches of Portland cement concrete.

The board of the Port Authority also approved plans to extend and improve other taxiways and runways that staff determined “would result in delay reductions of 10,485 hours annually at JFK, as well as approximately $55.36 million of annual savings in both direct aircraft operating costs and the value of passenger time,” according to the report prepared for the board.

“These projects have a single goal: to give every one of our 48 million annual customers at JFK a more efficient, passenger-friendly airport,” Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said in a statement.

Also of note at the airports

The Port Authority on Thursday also approved an increase to the luggage cart rental fee to $5 from $3 at John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports.

February 20, 2009 8:34 AM in Arrivology

®Copyright 2004 - 2010, All Rights Reserved