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Photos show an abandoned JFK airport terminal’s transformation from a futuristic, 1960s icon into a new luxury hotel that sits right on the runway

Katie Canales

Updated

2019-05-16T14:19:00Z

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1969. Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images

JFK Airport's long-abandoned Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center in New York has been transformed into a luxury hotel, complete with over 500 rooms, starting at $249 a night.
The TWA Hotel had a soft opening on May 15, 2019. The project includes countless amenities like restaurants, bars, shopping, and a rooftop infinity pool.
The budget to transform the TWA terminal amounted to $265 million, making it perhaps one of the most expensive airport hotels in the world.
But the terminal's past life is significant in its own right.
The TWA Terminal was built in 1962 and has long been associated with the golden age of flying, known as the "Jet Age," when Trans World Airlines was one of the most iconic airlines in the world and the jet engine was revolutionizing how Americans traveled.
Here's a look at the terminal in its heyday.
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Today, the Trans World Airlines terminal just outside John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, is now part of the $265 million TWA Hotel project.

twa terminal — The TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Before construction on the hotel project began, the terminal sat vacant and abandoned for 18 years.

twa terminal — The TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Business Insider

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But in its mid-century heyday, the TWA Flight Center was known as the "Grand Central of the Jet Age" for its status as the epicenter of the golden age of air travel.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The then-new Trans World Airlines flight center at New York's Idlewild Airport, before it was renamed JFK Airport, on May 17, 1962. AP

Source: Atlas Obscura

It served as a loading dock for Trans World Airlines, which was one of the most iconic airlines of the 20th century along with Pan American World Airways.

the beatles twa — The Beatles on arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, USA on August 13, 1965. AP

Source: Investopedia

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The terminal was built in 1962 during the Jet Age, a period when the introduction of the jet engine to both military and commercial air travel meant that planes became bigger, faster, and cheaper to manufacture.

jet engine

Source: Britannica and Fortune

The jet engine impacted commercial aviation specifically, ensuring that air travel was no longer a luxury for only the upper class.

jet age

Source: Britannica

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The construction of the TWA Terminal helped the Jet Age expand around the world — and established New York as a forerunner of the aviation era.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1969. Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Source: Fortune

in 1963, the New York Jets football team even changed its name from the Titans of New York to reflect the city's role in the revolutionary Jet Age.

new york jets — Weeb Ewbank, left, signs a contract retaining him as head coach and general manager of the New York Jets, Feb. 11, 1966, in New York. Sonny Werblin, owner of the Jets, is at right. AP

Source: Fortune and The New York Jets

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The terminal's designer, renowned Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen, wanted his neo-futuristic structure to mirror the shape of a bird with its wings spread.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal is seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Thursday, March 16, 2017. Seth Wenig/AP

Source: Vogue

Inside, the terminal is known for its cavernous arched white ceilings, winding staircases, and mid-century mod style.

twa terminal, jfk — A curved ceiling and glass walls are distinctive features of the lounge at TWA's new terminal building at New York's Idlewild Airport, May 29, 1962. AP

Source: Vogue

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"We wanted the architecture to reveal the terminal not as a static, enclosed place," Saarinen said in a lecture in 1959, "but as a place of movement and transition."

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1962. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Source: Places Journal

Glass walls lean away from the building, "as if intended for viewers to imagine looking out from a plane to earth below," according to Arch Daily.

twa terminal, jfk — A curved ceiling and glass walls that lean out sharply onto a sweeping view of the runways and giant jet planes are the distinctive features of the lounge at Trans World Airway's new terminal building at New York's Idlewild Airport, May 29, 1962. AP

Source: Arch Daily

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There were closed-circuit televisions and a food court in the building.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA building in August 1962. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Source: Wired

And the flight schedules were displayed on an electronic board, which was as futuristic as it got back then.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The inside of the TWA Terminal in 1965. Sheldon Klareich/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Source: Wired

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Saarinen's designs diverged from the typical airline terminal of the time, which was oftentimes more minimal and business-like. His concept evens stands out amongst modern-day designs.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1962. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Image

Source: Vogue, Design Observer, Wired

"Today's airports put the people in the middle, away from the light and any sense of exterior orientation," said architecture critic Alexandra Lange in Design Observer in 2011. "The bulk is given over to ticketing and security, baggage and shops, so that people get only a narrow path. It's the opposite at TWA: the perimeter is for humans."

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1968. Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Source: Curbed

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For decades, the building was a successful terminal for flyers and remained an architectural marvel.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA terminal in 1963. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

Source: Atlas Obscura

Later in 1994, the terminal would even be designated a New York City landmark.

twa terminal new york jfk airport — The TWA Terminal in May 1998. James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

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But in the 1980s, a shift in management and a series of financial losses at TWA spelt the airline's eventual downfall.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in January 1980. Ted Streshinsky/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Source: USA Today

The airline went bankrupt twice, first in 1992 and then again in 1995.

twa terminal flight center

Source: USA Today

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It was finally acquired by American Airlines in 2001.

twa terminal new york jfk airport — A black and white photo of the TWA Terminal in January 2001. Turnbull Bill/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Source: USA Today

As for the terminal, built decades before, it couldn't accommodate the much larger aircraft of modern-day air travel.

twa terminal, jfk — The TWA Terminal on Sept. 2, 1962. AP

Source: Condé Nast Traveler

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And the layout of the terminal didn't meet modern-day security guidelines either — installing metal detectors, for example, proved to be too difficult for the space.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — The TWA Terminal in 1966. Vic DeLucia/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images

Source: Atlas Obscura

So with that, the TWA terminal stopped serving passengers and closed in 2001.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — A black and white photo of the TWA Terminal in January 2001. Turnbull Bill/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Source: Atlas Obscura

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The terminal was deemed so unadaptable that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed building a new terminal behind it, though still leaving the main TWA Terminal alone.

Trans World Airlines Flight Center, Jet Age, TWA — The waiting area of the former Ambassadors Club is seen inside the Trans World Airlines Flight Center at John F. Kennedy Airport in the Queens borough of New York, October 18, 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation

But the proposal did include destroying two boarding gates that were attached to the main building by connector tubes, a plan that didn't go over so well with the public.

trans world airlines, twa, flight center

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation

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The main issue was that this new terminal would overshadow the historic TWA building. The proposal also didn't include plans for how the TWA building would be used, and there wasn't any financial backing to renovate it, which it needed at the time.

twa terminal jfk airport — The TWA Terminal in 2008. Mark Lennihan/AP

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation

The potential neglect of the terminal prompted the National Trust for Historic Preservation to include it in its 2003 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places.

twa terminal new york jfk airport — October 2015 Anita Culp/Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0 Attribution

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation and National Trust for Historic Preservation

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But the Port Authority's proposal was eventually put through a review process, which resulted in revised designs that limited the new terminal's infringement on the decades-old TWA building and tossed out the demolition plans for the connector tubes.

twa terminal

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation

The terminal was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, further ensuring its preservation — even if just the exterior of it.

twa terminal

Source: Fortune

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The new terminal at JFK was completed in 2008. The historic connector tubes were used to connect the TWA building to the new terminal, which was dubbed Terminal 5 upon completion and houses JetBlue Airlines to this day. The cost to build the new JetBlue terminal amounted to $743 million.

twa terminal

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation and The New York Times

On top of having its initial proposal revised, the Port Authority agreed to shell out $19 million needed for repairs on the TWA building.

twa terminal jfk airport

Source: Advisory Council On Historic Preservation

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The renovated TWA Terminal opened to the public for the first time in ten years in 2011, when Open House New York, an annual festival that welcomes the public into typically off-limit design sites, added it to its roster.

twa terminal new york jfk airport — The TWA Terminal in 2012. View Pictures/UIG via Getty Images

Source: Open House New York

Over 1,000 visitors ventured to get a look inside the mid-century marvel.

TWA_TERMINAL Curved_Stair — Visitors inside the TWA Terminal in 2015. Huanhai777/Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0 Attribution

Source: Gothamist

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In 2015, the historic terminal again hosted throngs of visitors for that year's Open House New York festival.

2015 10 18T000000Z_1914685961_GF10000249958_RTRMADP_3_NEWYORK FLIGHTCENTER.JPG — Visitors inside the TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Condé Nast Traveler

Thousands of history, architecture, and aviation buffs alike flocked to JFK Airport to journey back to the Jet Age for just four hours.

twa terminal — Visitors inside the TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Fortune

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Some visitors went all out, even donning vintage flight attendant uniforms.

twa terminal open house new york — Visitors inside the TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

But 2015 was the last time the building would be open to the public before being transformed into the 500-room TWA Hotel.

twa terminal — Visitors inside the TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Fortune

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Construction on the new hotel, led by MCR Development and JetBlue Airways, which operates out of the attached Terminal 5, began in 2016.

twa terminal — The TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Vogue

The hotel rooms won't be in the TWA building, but in two brand new towers built around it.

The TWA Terminal in 2017. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

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There will be 40,000 square feet of meeting spaces, six restaurants, eight bars, a spa, and a 10,000-square-foot observation deck. The budget for the project amounted to $265 million.

twa terminal — The TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: USA Today and Vogue and Bloomberg

And a rooftop infinity pool will be available for guests overlooking the runway.

twa terminal

Source: Business Insider

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The building's historic status kept its exterior from being redeveloped.

twa terminal jfk airport new york

Source: Fortune

But an interior restoration was completed, though rest assured: much of the terminal will look as it always has. The hotel lobby will exist in this main building.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — May 2017 undergoing renovation TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Vogue

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In fact, some of the terminal's most famous amenities have been restored, like its original cocktail bar known as the "Sunken Lounge" decked out in the building's signature red cushioned seats.

twa terminal hotel new york — The Sunken Lounge in the TWA Terminal in 2017. Timothy A. Clary/Getty

Source: Business Insider

The terminal's iconic Ambassador's Club will also be revived.

twa terminal — The Ambassador's Club in the TWA Terminal in 2015. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Source: Bloomberg

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It's known for its orange seats, seen pictured below.

twa terminal

Source: Bloomberg

Other well-known features like the Lisbon Lounge and the Paris Cafe will also be restored.

twa terminal jfk airport new york — May 2017 Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Bloomberg

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The trademark departures notification board was updated with a new mechanism that allows staff to display the messaging of their choice through an app.

twa hotel — The departures notification board in the TWA Terminal in 2017. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Bloomberg

And a 1958 Lockheed Constellation L-1649A plane, called "Connie," was renovated into a cocktail lounge. It'll sit on the tarmac, where guests can book two-hour reservations and sip cocktails.

twa hotel cocktail bar

Source: Business Insider

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The TWA Hotel's soft opening was slated for May 15, with a grand opening planned for this fall.

twa terminal

Source: Business Insider

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For $249 a night, the starting rate for a room at the new TWA Hotel, you can travel back to the golden age of air travel.

twa terminal jfk airport — The TWA Arrivals Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, pictured Feb. 25, 1971. John Rooney/AP

Source: Business Insider

This is an updated version of an article originally written by Melia Robinson.

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