Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Plan to Build World-Class $9.5 Billion International Terminal at JFK Airport

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has reached a revised agreement with The New Terminal One (NTO) - a consortium of financial sponsors - to build a 2.4 million square foot state-of-the-art new international terminal that will anchor the south side of John F. Kennedy International Airport. The $9.5 billion project will be built in phases and will create more than 10,000 jobs, becoming the fourth major terminal project announced by the Port Authority as part of a complete transformation of JFK into a world-class airport worthy of New York and the region. When completed, The New Terminal One will be the largest international terminal at JFK and aspires to be among the top rated airport terminals in the world.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Well, we have some very exciting news here today and I'm delighted to be joined by the all-star team that represents us first in government, in labor, and, of course, at the Port Authority.

First, I want to acknowledge Rick Cotton. I had a chance to say some words about him at the 100th anniversary of the Port Authority - the hundredth anniversary is coming down to the last two weeks here, so if you haven't celebrated, keep it going. It's going to be another hundred years. Rick is the embodiment of the phrase "leadership matters." What he has done on behalf of New York has been visionary. He gets the job done without a lot of drama and we work very, very closely together. I am so proud that he is the Executive Director of the Port Authority.

Also, Kevin O'Toole, our friend across the water, from New Jersey. Another individual who's so committed to just getting the work done, making sure that we do the right thing between our two states. I want to thank him as the Chairman of the Board.

Gerrard Bushell, Executive Director of Terminal One. You've got a lot on your plate. We are very confident in your abilities. I had a chance to work with you in the past administration and I look forward to continuing that relationship.

Also, our elected leaders. I've had a chance to work with Congressman Greg Meeks since a decade ago when I landed as one of your colleagues in Congress and you continue to just make sure that your constituents are so well represented on projects like these, bringing their concerns to the table, working with us, getting it done for the people. I want to applaud your incredible leadership here and also for our nation.

Donovan Richards, someone who's become a great friend of mine. I call him "BP" affectionately, but our Queens Borough President. He is everywhere. I don't know that I've ever been to a church without him in there preaching as well. I just did my preaching up in Harlem yesterday before I went up to Buffalo to deal with the storm. But I see you everywhere, you are out there, a man of the people. Thank you, Donovan Richards.

And representing the thousands of hardworking men and women of labor, Gary LaBarbera, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. I could not think of a greater partner, someone who just wears the needs of the people he represents on his sleeve every time you see him he's saying I need to do this, I need to do this. I don't know that we'd have the scale of the projects with the project labor agreements with all the issues that relate to training our next generation of workers, so important, diversifying that workforce. Gary and I have had many conversations about the desire to see more people of color, more women, on the worksites. He understands that and is doing everything.

I just want to say that this is a team of individuals that is unsurpassed in our nation in terms of people who get things done.

I've got a couple of announcements here today and we plan - the announcement here today - to transform JFK into - I'm told to say one of the top airports in the world, I don't know why I can't say the best airport in the world.

We are going to be building a state-of-the-art Terminal One. This is a very big deal. How does this happen? When I first landed in this job is how I'll say it, I landed in this job at the end of August, I wanted to see a whole scope of the projects that have been talked about for years but have been pent up or delayed or sidetracked for whatever reasons; some may be set aside because of the pandemic, other times it was funding, others we could only do so much at a time. I said, just give me the one that's really bold. Let's take a look at what's out there that'll send a statement that this administration knows no boundaries in terms of its capacity to dream, to dream big, be ambitious, but also we have this unique moment in history when that ambition is met with the ability to have funding sources.

I thank our leaders in Congress, in the White House, with President Joe Biden, and our leadership with Chuck Schumer, how great it is to have Chuck Schumer as the Majority Leader of the entire Senate, our own member of the Senate. As well as the leadership that we have, Greg Meeks and so many others, that work on these projects. This is where a lot of the credit goes because they are believing in infrastructure the way we always have in the State of New York.

They know that this is the catalyst, this is our opportunity, to help lift people out of this pandemic and give them a chance to go to a job that they never even thought of themselves in. They may have been losing their job because it was never going to come back because of automation or because of the pandemic, whatever reason, they just never viewed themselves as part of building this great city and this great region. I want those opportunities. We have met the moment and the moment is now.

We need to continue focusing on our airports. I want to talk a little bit about how this is overdue. I love the airports. I have spent more time in the airports than anybody other than someone who's got a Port Authority badge, right? I saw them, particularly over the last seven years. I was here multiple times a week, literally flying around the state. I think I know every single person and I thank everyone. From those wiping the counters in the restrooms and those who are serving people at the restaurants and those who are continuing to line us up in some fashion to board a plane, these are the people who have been there even before the pandemic. But let me tell you, my friends, during the pandemic they showed up every single day when everybody else was staying home, they were there on their jobs.

The fact that we were able to continue doing construction and projects - great fear was permeating throughout our society, throughout our community. It was real, people were losing their lives, and these brave heroes kept showing up. To them, I'm forever grateful for what they've done.

Also, what this city deserves, after this pandemic, brought to our knees, hit so hard, this is our moment to truly shine. The stars are aligned for us to conduct ourselves in a way that the rest of the world will say, "How do they do that during a pandemic? How do they do that in the aftermath?" which I hope will be very soon. I look to the leaders and examples of what happened during the last pandemic, one hundred years ago, around the time the Port Authority was just born. Yes, it was paralyzing, we lost thousands of New Yorkers, it was very hard on the economy, very similar to what we're going through now. But afterward, people decided to build and we had the roaring twenties after that last pandemic. That was a time of great optimism and confidence - as long as you stop at 29, 1929 was not a great year. But we're going to go all the way until then, skip over 29, and then go into the next one.

So, I just want to say, what we're announcing here today is something that is hopefully jaw dropping for people. I want them to know that this is just the beginning. I'll be speaking much more in my State of the State address, literally in a couple of weeks, about our bold vision to bring back this state after the pandemic and, number one, focusing on the health of the people, but also focusing on the health of the economy. Making sure that we don't slide any further, that we go back to where we were and exceed that by tenfold.

Today, I'm proud to announce a [$9.5] billion public, private investment that'll transform Terminal One into a state of the art facility. It'll be 2.4 million square feet, it's hard to imagine how large that is, but it's going to be built on the current footprint of Terminal One, Terminal Two, and Terminal Three. That's big, that is a large space.

It'll have twenty-three new international gates. We are so interconnected with the rest of the globe. We want people to come from all over to find themselves right of the doorstep of New York so they line up the opportunity to come here, visit New York, visit our friends in New Jersey, visit upstate, and continue their journey across this nation. But come here first. Twenty-three new international gates - it's going to be extraordinary.

We plan to be able to handle over twenty million customers a year. That's incredible as well.

So, whether they arrived here in coach, when they arrive and open the doors and come into our terminal, it'll be a first-class experience, premium first-class experience is what I'm predicting.

What we're going to have is phase A is going to be fourteen gates. After we start construction in 2022 - can I repeat that? Did you hear that? It's almost 2022. We are starting construction in 2022. Fourteen gates in the second quarter of 2026, five more gates by 2028, and four gates by 2032. I'm just going to say, that sounds really far off so maybe we can talk about this. I want to live to see the rest of these gates. I'm not getting any younger. Maybe we can talk about those last few gates, go a little faster.

But when it is done, it'll be an experience that is worthy of the name New York and worthy of the name John F. Kennedy. As John Kennedy once said, every accomplishment starts with the simple decision to try. We've done that, we are more than trying. We are going to get it done.

I thank everyone who's part of reimagining New York State as a whole, our transportation hubs, our infrastructure opportunities. I am so proud to be able to help lead this state into a whole new era. It starts with announcements like these. We're going to unlock New York State's full potential and give everyone number one, the dignity of a good job and a world-class experience and make us all so proud to be New Yorkers again.

Thank you, my friends.