#COVID-19 threatens JFK revamp and LGA AirTrain, Port Authority warns

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An air traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport.
AP

The Port Authority may be forced to rethink the redevelopment of JFK Airport and the LaGuardia AirTrain amid a coronavirus-induced $800 million drop in revenue this year, officials warned Thursday.

“The agency’s second-quarter financial performance is the worst downturn in the Port Authority’s recent history — perhaps in its entire history, but certainly since World War II,” Executive Director Rick Cotton said during the agency’s July board meeting.

Cotton said transportation megaprojects like the JFK revamp and the controversial AirTrain “will simply need to be revised” without $3 billion in rescue funds from Congress.

“We are committed to completing LaGuardia and Newark Terminal One, but the revenue losses caused by the coronavirus crisis will force the Port Authority to reevaluate … every other major project,” he said.

The bi-state agency’s $37 billion, 10-year development plan relies on revenues from the region’s ports, airports and river crossings –which have all dropped dramatically since the coronavirus outbreak began in March.

Port Chairman Kevin O’Toole, a former Republican New Jersey state senator, said even delaying the projects would cost “thousands of jobs.”

“That money that we’re asking if just to keep this agency moving forward with that $37 billion capital plan, and what we’re promising is growth, opportunity and jobs,” O’Tool said.

“If we don’t get it … serious, significant, some would say cataclysmic, decisions will need to be made with our capital plan.”

The agency has made some operating budget cuts, but not instituted any layoffs.

“Our facilities haven’t changed. The need for safety and security at our facilities hasn’t changed. The need to keep airports and PATH running hasn’t change,” Cotton said.

“We will continue to look at all responsible cost reduction strategies available to us.”