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$1.4B arrivals terminal opens at JFK airport

By Betsy Scheinbart

The new $1.4 billion Terminal 4, formerly the International Arrivals Building, opened at John F. Kennedy International Airport last Thursday, marking a major step in the airport’s $10.3 billion redevelopment.

The 1.5 million-square-foot building has been operational for two weeks, handling passengers arriving from points all over the world on more than three dozen airlines.

The new terminal is part of the first phase of the airport’s overall restructuring, a $10.3 billion project which includes improvements of roadways, garages, utilities and aviation infrastructure.

The terminal was created by JFK International Air Terminal LLC, a private consortium including Schiphol USA, LCOR Inc. and Lehman Brothers, Inc.

Pieter Verboom, the chief financial officer of the Schiphol Group, which operates Amsterdam Airport in the Netherlands, said he felt at home in the building.

“Terminal 4 and Amsterdam Airport are both passenger pleasing,” Verboom said. “We see the airport as a city where people come to work, shop and watch planes because it is a nice place to be.”

The glass-covered terminal has a curved, futuristic exterior with the tracks of the AirTrain light-rail system extending from both sides. It will be the only terminal on the airport with an indoor AirTrain station.

The $1.9 billion, eight-mile-long light rail system is scheduled to connect all airport terminals with Howard Beach by next year and with Jamaica by 2003.

More than 1,000 people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was slightly overshadowed by a protest by several hundred union workers and former food service employees, many of whom were not rehired when Restaurant Associates took over as the terminal’s food provider.

Protesters gathered outside the terminal and a few came to the site of the celebration and chanted loudly.

Gov. George Pataki was expected, but did not attend the event. In a statement Pataki said “Kennedy Airport’s newest and grandest passenger terminal recaptures the glory days of JFK. It also goes a long way toward restoring Kennedy Airport to its proper status as New York’s world-class international gateway.”

At the ceremony, 18 people were naturalized as American citizens at the place of their arrival in this country.

David Sigman, the development general manager for JFK International Airport Terminal, said the new terminal is “the Ellis Island of the Jet Age.”

Sigman and Hans Mohrmann, the president of Schiphol USA, who acted as the masters of ceremony, opened a time capsule buried in the original International Arrivals Building in 1954 by New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey.

Unfortunately, the documents inside the mangled capsule were impossible to decipher and the dank smell of rotting paper spread throughout the audience.

A new time capsule was sealed, which included a Nokia cell phone, Subway Series 2000 highlights video and a copy of the book “From Ellis Island to JFK.” The capsule will be placed within the walls of the new terminal.

After the event, attendees enjoyed food and entertainment from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East throughout the terminal.

Tours of the new terminal revealed three new art installations that joined sculptor Alexander Calder’s “Flight” in the building.

Elizabeth Diller and Richard Scofidio created a hologram series, “Travelogues,” which hangs along the corridor leading to immigration and the baggage claim. The holograms show the contents of travelers’ luggage and tell the photographic stories of their travels.

Harry Roseman’s fiberglass curtains hang opposite windows leading to the immigration hall, where Deborah Masters’ 28 relief sculpture panels, “Walking New York,” hang above the immigration workers’ stations.

Masters’ work was the source of controversy last month when a figure of Jesus on the cross in one of her panels was left unclothed. Masters said she forgot to paint a loincloth on the figure, but corrected her mistake when airport workers complained about the nudity.

Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.