It’s an exciting time for New York City’s airports. We’ve already written about the amazing planespotting from the new skybridges at LaGuardia and the huge New Terminal One project at JFK. Across the Hudson River at Newark International there’s major work going on too. The first phase there was a from-scratch rebuild of the 50-year-old Terminal A. We dropped by, and we can say from firsthand experience that the result is impressive.
Join us on a photo and video walkthrough of the new terminal, with an eye towards the AvGeek appeal and planespotting potential.
The new Terminal A, which opened in late 2022, is the airport’s southernmost terminal.
The new Terminal A was built alongside the old one, to allow a gradual operational transition from one to the other. In the satellite image below you can see both the new terminal (bottom) and the old one (top). The latter has since been decommissioned.
I try to get to airports on public transit whenever I can. One issue with the new Terminal A is that its temporary AirTrain station is a fifteen-minute walk from the terminal, or a short extra bus ride. This will eventually be fixed when the current cramped and unreliable EWR AirTrain gets rebuilt. But that’s years away, and so for now the public transit access situation is a hassle.
But once I got to the new terminal I completely forgot about the AirTrain situation. Compared to the old dark and cramped Terminal A the new building is full of light and bursting with Jersey-themed art.
The terminal’s TSA security checkpoint features big status screens and some futuristic-looking neon-trimmed bag scanners.
Once you get through security the terminal layout is fairly straightforward. Most gates are along the terminal’s main east concourse, with a few on the smaller north and south concourses.
As of now there are five airlines operating out of the new Terminal A: American, United, Delta, JetBlue, and Air Canada. The first three each have their own lounge here.
And now for the part you’ve been waiting for: the planespotting. There must have been some #AvGeeks on the terminal design committee because there are a TON of beanbag-type seats in prime spotting positions right up against the windows.
The best views are at the very end of the main terminal pier, where you’re closest to the airport’s runways.
Bring a camera with a good zoom lens and you can score some shots with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
We spent a great hour taking in the views from the terminal before boarding an outbound flight on a United 737 MAX. The timing of our takeoff roll lined up perfectly with a gorgeous golden sunset.
The Verdict on Newark’s New Terminal A
The new terminal cost nearly $3 billion, and is forecasted to serve 15 million flyers a year. So the stakes were high for Newark to get this right. Luckily the new Terminal A seems like a winner. It’s airy, bright, and full of decorations and local flair.
The only gripe for now is the AirTrain situation. Between the 15-minute walk from station to terminal and the fact that Terminal A is already the farthest station from the railway link, factor in an extra 20 minutes to get here on public transit.
Overall though it’s a great place to fly from, and to planespot from too. If you’ve swung by already let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
To everyone who gave up hope for New York’s airports, I can see why you did. For way too long, JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark were congested outdated disasters. But at long last the powers-that-be are investing in massive renovations. We wrote about JFK’s New Terminal One project, which broke ground a few months ago. But without a doubt, LaGuardia is the airport that is furthest along in its makeover. And the results so far look amazing.
What surprised me most is how great the new Terminal B is for planespotting. Thanks to its design as an unusually vertical airport, including skybridges over busy taxiways, the views are excellent.
Read on for a photo and video walkthrough around the gorgeous Terminal B, with plenty of amazing views of the ramp and runways.
Few US cities need their airports renovated more desperately than New York does. Its three primary airports have terminal facilities that may have been world-class decades ago, but are congested messes today. Fortunately the powers that be got the memo and are using this decade to get JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia back into shape. The LaGuardia work is well underway, with large parts of a shiny new terminal B already open. And recently, a project at JFK hit a major milestone.
An aerial rendered view of the planned New Terminal One – Photo: PANYNJ
A consortium of airlines, funding partners, project management companies, and other partners are breaking ground this month on JFK’s New Terminal One (NTO). It will cover the footprint of the current terminal one (a smattering of mostly international airlines), Delta’s terminal two, and the footprint of the demolished terminal three. For an overview of the overall planned terminal changes at JFK this CrankyFlier story from our friend Brett does a great job.
The press release lists AirFrance/KLM, LOT, and Etihad as anchor airlines for the new terminal. We’d have thought JFK’s major redevelopment could allow alliance partners to colocate. But AF/KLM’s major US partner is Delta over in terminal four, Etihad has a smattering of codeshare partners all over the place, and LOT is in the Star Alliance. So NTO may work like the current terminal one, as a grab-bag of miscellaneous airlines.
Inside the New Terminal One headhouse – Photo: PANYNJ
As for the terminal design, it will have a large headhouse and two piers with a total of 23 gates. Presumably most gates will be designed for long-haul aircraft. From the renderings it looks fresh, spacious, and *really* into letting you know that you’re in NYC.
The project will break ground this summer, with the first phase planned to open in 2026 and completion slated for 2030. So yes, you’ll have a while to wait before you can walk through the New Terminal One yourself. And there will probably be plenty of construction-related hassles for passengers passing through terminals one and two between now and then. For now, here’s some cool renderings of the final product.
Tailwind uses a two-year-old Cessna 208B amphibious aircraft on the route from New York Skyports Seaplane Base to Boston Harbor
Tailwind Air isn’t an average commuter airline. There are definitely similarities to Seattle’s Kenmore Air, in that both fly seaplanes and do charters through some of the world’s busiest airspace, but Tailwind Air positions itself as a boutique service for the time-pressed Northeastern traveler.
Along with saving time, the flight offers some pretty amazing scenery – the Empire State Building is on the right
This is their math: it takes at least four hours to cover the 200 road miles between Manhattan and Boston by rail or car, depending on traffic or service delays. By air, it’s consistently less than 90 minutes. And far more comfortable and glamorous.
Our flight was on Friday, March 5, 2022, which marked the airline’s annual resumption of service on the route – the flight doesn’t operate in the winter months.
The flight from Manhattan to Boston took 70 minutes thanks to a helpful tailwind, although we paid for that by having to fight the corresponding headwind on the way back, so that leg took 90 minutes. Considering it’s taken me 90 minutes to drive the length of Manhattan in Friday afternoon traffic, this flight is a wonderful option.
I made up a binder to plan our trip and this was on the cover… it is how I roll!
The movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is one of my favorite classics. It never gets old watching how a simple trip falls apart into complete chaos. It might have been a bit odd for me to be excited taking a trip using those exact forms for transportation (in the same order, none-the-less), but I was optimistic that our trip would turn out much better. Brittany (my lovely wife) and I were planning to take a plane from Seattle (SEA) to New York (via EWR); a train from New York (NYP) to Jacksonville, FL (JAX); and then a nice little drive down the Florida coast to Vero Beach, FL.
Brittany had never been to New York City and we wanted to visit my dad in Vero Beach. You probably can tell that I love flying, but I was at a place in my life where the idea of flying back and forth across the country twice in a few 737s was not appealing, so I started to get creative.
The outside of an Amtrak car with Viewliner Roomettes – Photo: Amtrak
I realized that for about the same cost to fly from New York down to Florida, we could purchase a Viewliner Roomette on the Amtrak Silver Service. Of course the travel time would be a bit more’¦ but the experience would be very different. Neither of us had traveled overnight on a train and I was stoked about the idea!
Although the train continued farther south, I wanted to round out the experience by de-training (that a thing?) in JAX and renting a car to drive the rest of the way. The drive is only about three hours to our final destination, but we decided to make it a two-day adventure. We wanted to smell the roses and also stay at a hotel right on the water. We had our quest locked in!
Buckle up’¦ it is time to first start the PLANE portion of our journey!
