Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2024

ONE-ON-ONE

A TRANSFORMATIONAL TERMINAL PROJECT CEO Jennifer Aument Shares Vision for JFK’s New Terminal One

BY CAROL WARD

ditor’s Note: The New Terminal One (NTO) at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is currently under construction on sites now occupied by Terminal 1, the recently closed Terminal 2, and the former Terminal 3. The first phase of the terminal project, including the new arrivals and departures halls and first set of 14 new gates, is expected to open in 2026. On April 1, Jennifer Aument took over as CEO of the New Terminal One. Aument has more than 25 years of experience in developing major infrastructure across the highway, rail, airport, and port sectors. Her career includes executive roles in public-private partnerships and megaprojects, with a focus on safe and efficient project delivery, business performance, community engagement and customer experience. AXN’s Carol Ward spoke with Aument about her vision and goals for the new terminal. E

WARD: Can you give me an overview of the latest on construction of the New Terminal One at JFK? AUMENT: We’re on track to open in mid 2026. We’re moving toward being fully weather tight by the end of this year. It’s really at that exciting place where we’ve moved from doing underground utilities and demolition work and stormwater management work to now seeing the terminal come together. We’re starting to see where the retail locations are going to be, we can start to see the lounges come together and [they are] making a lot of progress on the roof and the curtain wall. We see the customer experience coming together. While the complexity of the civil works will continue, this is a very large scale project, and the real complexity now comes in the second half on the things that probably aren’t as dramatic visually. It obviously involves a lot of third parties, and we’re focused heavily now on coordination activities. I think about it like a symphony. We’ve got all the right talent in the seats – we need to make all of that come together and to do what we have to do to be able to open in that mid-2026 timeline.

I’ve had a lot of experience in large, complex P3 projects - that’s been my area of expertise across the rail ports, highway and airport space. It really is like conducting an orchestra and the most important thing is having the right talent in those seats. When I look at our team, we really have brought in the best in the world and combined them with professionals who have really deep experience in working with the Port Authority and working in the greater New York area. And, of course, we brought in all kinds of local talent through our minority and women-owned business program. And so that combination really has put us in a great place to be able to execute and create a spectacular experience for customers. WARD: There are multiple terminal projects underway at JFK, each with its own development team and all in partnership with PANYNJ. Is there coordination among the teams? Competition for limited labor? AUMENT: There are a number of programs that we have to ensure that we have the talent we need to be able to construct and ultimately operate this terminal and [we have] a very strong partnership with labor. That’s been a very successful part of our

Above: Jennifer Aument, CEO, the New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

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AX NEWS JUNE 2024