JFK Adds New Boarding Bridge...A380

http://www.airportimprovement.com/si...Image_0001.jpg

As it was, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Asiana Airlines; and now comes the fourth airline (Etihad) to operate an A380," explains Edmund Quintana, a senior manager with JFKIAT. "We were not looking just for a relief gate, but a gate where we can plan A380 operations. The gate had to be built by December 2015." Currently, traffic into Terminal 4 is almost evenly split between domestic and international flights. The facility is Delta Air Lines' primary terminal at JFK and also hosts over 30 foreign carriers. Since the introduction of the A380, Terminal 4 has accommodated the giant aircraft at gates A6 and A7. Now, it's able to accommodate such traffic at Gate B29 as well.

"When Asiana, as the third A380 carrier, started flying the aircraft into JFK, we really needed a relief valve," recalls Shawn Makinen, JFKIAT's vice president for facility management. "It was important to have another gate with unrestricted access to the A380 upper and main deck."