Terminal Envy

By SALLY B. DONNELLY

Dingy. Deluged. Decrepit. The International Arrivals Building at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport was so rundown by the 1990s that arriving passengers, not a few of them escaping wretched Third World environments, probably wondered if they had made some cosmic mistake. The IAB was the crown jewel of jet-set travel when it opened in what was then Idlewild Airport in 1957, but three decades later, the country's most important global gateway was one of the worst. Experienced flyers preferred Newark. In New Jersey.

It may be time to come back. In June the airport christened a sparkling, soaring and sunlit new version of the IAB known officially and underwhelmingly as Terminal 4. But that dull moniker can't hide the fact that America's newest gateway may be its best. The graceful steel-and-glass structure boasts 40-ft. ceilings, Mongolian granite floors and colorful artwork and architecture that should distract anyone waiting in a long line. "We are trying to make an airport an enjoyable place to be," says Hans Mohrmann, the enthusiastic Dutchman who is president of Schiphol U.S.A., a division of Amsterdam's airport-management company, which is part of the consortium that developed T-4. Says David Sigman, development general manager for the consortium: "We want to offer a place people might even come for fun, not just for an airplane flight."

That's not so ludicrous as it sounds. The 1.5 million-sq.-ft. building incorporates state-of-the-art airport-design features, such as the 144 check-in counters that can be used by any airline, and a video display system that encourages incoming passengers to keep moving briskly along corridors to the huge customs-and-immigration area, where funky, massive bas-relief scenes of New York greet them. The airport is counting on federal agencies to increase staff at peak times; the building's public areas are designed to handle as many as 3,200 arriving passengers an hour, 60% more than the old IAB.

The terminal even has its own Main Street: 100,000 sq. ft. of shops and restaurants lined by steel lights that echo the Statue of Liberty. Small tables dot the area and make it feel more like an Italian piazza than a sterile airport food court. What's particularly refreshing is the distinctive food offerings, such as the first-ever airport Sylvia's, a branch of the famous Harlem soul-food restaurant, and Erwin's Glatt Kosher Deli. This airport wants you to visit: the so-called dwell time, the minutes you spend pre- or postflight, is estimated to be a longer-than-average four hours.

The good news for the rest of the country is that upgraded facilities may be coming to your airport soon--in part because international travel is growing at a much faster rate than domestic travel. In the past 10 years, the number of international travelers has jumped more than 10 million, to 54 million people. San Francisco International Airport has just opened an attractive new section of a terminal for its overseas passengers, and last week Dallas/Fort Worth Airport announced plans for building a $1.8 billion, 2 million-sq.-ft. facility that will be able to process 2,800 passengers an hour. "Airports are what railway stations used to be," says David Plavin, president of Airports Council International-North America, who says an airport revival is under way. "Airports are being designed to be welcoming, inspiring places and to communicate something positive about the region or the city travelers are visiting." Terminal 4 at J.F.K. fits that bill with ease.