The newspaper headline read: “Expect That Airport at Newark Will Be Model for Other Cities.” The date was September 12, 1928. It was prophetic.
On Wednesday, Newark Liberty International Airport’s new Terminal A was announced as the Best New Terminal in the World, just one month after receiving a coveted five-star rating, both from Skytrax, the preeminent aviation industry ratings firm.
As Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and as a native New Jerseyan, it was a great honor for me to be part of the Port Authority team, which also included Chief Operating Officer James Heitmann, Director of Aviation Redevelopment Jacquelene McCarthy, and Aviation Operational Standards and Compliance General Manager Frank Radics, that accepted these awards at the 2024 Skytrax World Airport Awards in Frankfurt, Germany.
The annual Skytrax award ceremony is known within the international aviation industry as the industry’s equivalent of the annual Academy Awards for achievements in filmmaking. Receiving these two exceptional recognitions for Newark’s Terminal A is more than winning an Oscar; it is like winning an Oscar AND a People’s Choice Award, with the former being decided by industry experts and the latter, by passengers.
The Skytrax ratings are considered a global benchmark of airport excellence, based on a detailed audit and an assessment of an airport’s product and front-line service standards. A coveted five- star terminal rating recognizes airport terminals that provide exceptional standards of facilities and staff service to customers across all front-line areas of the airport environment.
The designation as Best New Terminal in the World is the result of comprehensive surveys taken between August 2023 and March 2024 from passengers worldwide. Passengers evaluated their experiences, from airport facilities, staff service and customer experience ranging from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security, and immigration through departure at the gate.
Industry experts thought Terminal A was exceptional. Passengers thought Terminal A was exceptional. As Sally Field once famously said after winning her second Oscar, “You really like me.” Experts and passengers “really like” Newark’s Terminal A.
And there is much to like.
The $2.7 billion, 1-million-square-foot, 33-gate Terminal A is the Port Authority’s largest single investment in New Jersey, the largest design-build project in New Jersey state history, and its construction generated more than $4.6 billion in regional economic activity, creating more than 2,500 jobs.
Inside, Terminal A offers passengers world-class lounges, as well as food and retail offerings that include local shops with roots in Newark, Elizabeth, and Jersey City. In addition to world-class
customer amenities, the customer experience is enhanced by an inspiring and uplifting public art program, featuring dozens of local artists. Both the concessions and the art installations provide a distinct “New Jersey” sense of place – a signature feature of Port Authority redevelopment programs.
With both the five-star rating and the Best New Terminal in the World award, Newark’s Terminal A is a part of an elite group of just two terminals at just two airports in North America that I am proud to say are both Port Authority airports.
Terminal A joins LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B as the only two airport terminals in North America awarded the highest five-star rating by Skytrax. There are only four five-star airport terminals in the world, and two are at Port Authority airports!
This is an extraordinary accomplishment.
This is a tribute to my partner at the Port Authority, Executive Director Rick Cotton, whose leadership and integrity has ensured that the Port Authority’s historic $30 billion investment in rebuilding all three of the region’s major airports simultaneously has remained on track, even during the global pandemic.
This is a tribute to the leadership of the Port Authority Board of Commissioners who have remained committed to rebuilding our legacy infrastructure assets.
This is a tribute to the leadership of the governors of New Jersey and New York who are supporting these investments in both states, recognizing the vital importance of regional infrastructure investment.
This is a tribute to the Port Authority’s partner at Newark Liberty’s Terminal A, Munich Airport NJ LLC, the operator of the new terminal.
This is a tribute to the 8,000-person workforce of the Port Authority, who are the human structural steel that make everything possible.
This is a tribute to leadership of the 23 unions that represent the majority of the Port Authority’s workforce.
These two extraordinary recognitions – a five-rating and being named Best New Terminal in the World – represent an extraordinary turnaround for Newark Liberty. It is also an extraordinary return to the glory that once was Newark Metropolitan Airport, the first commercial airport in the nation.
Look for more to come at Newark Liberty as the Port Authority delivers a new AirTrain; plans for a new Terminal B; and opens an intermodal transit hub that will connect neighboring communities to the airport, to midtown Manhattan, and to economic opportunities across the region – all part of the comprehensive EWR Vision Plan that will re-envision Newark Liberty International Airport for the 21st century.
The 1928 headline read: “Expect That Airport at Newark Will Be Model for Other Cities.” Well, it is.
Kevin J. O’Toole is the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.