Coming soon: Renumbered gates at New York's JFK Airport

"Is it Gate 22 in Terminal 1, Terminal 5 or Terminal 8?"

That's the question that Jessica Forse doesn't want travelers to ask when the transformation at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is complete.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages and oversees the airport, is expected to renumber all the gates across the entire airport in the coming months, TPG has learned.

Speaking on the sidelines of the recent media tour of the new Terminal One, Forse, the chief executive overseeing the JFK redevelopment program, said that the "agency is evaluating what to do" regarding the numbering of gates at JFK.

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The problem is that some terminals already share gate numbers, and the confusion will only multiply once the new Terminal One and new Terminal 6 open.

To prevent confusion, the agency has undertaken a study to determine the best way to renumber the gates at JFK.

The leading option? A three digit numbering system that would span the entire airport complex.

This means that Terminal One would be home to gates 101 to 124. Terminal 4 would be home to gates starting at 401, Terminal 5 would have gates starting at 501 and so on. This way, passengers would know exactly which terminal corresponds to each gate assignment. This would also prevent duplication of gate numbers at the same airport.

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For instance, Terminal 5 and Terminal 8 currently use a two-digit number system for their gates. Right now, both terminals share gates numbered 1 to 30, and some infrequent flyers might be confused which terminal their flight departs from.

In fact, there's even more duplication of gate numbers at JFK today, as you'll see below.

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• Terminal 1: Gates 1 to 12
• Terminal 4: Gates A2 to A21, B20 to B51
• Terminal 5: Gates 1 to 30
• Terminal 7: Gates 1 to 10
• Terminal 8: Gates 1 to 47

The Port Authority hasn't announced a timeline for when the gates will be renumbered, but it did share that it's looking to "do something sooner rather than later" on the new numbering scheme.

The reason being that the agency wants to avoid a "full rip the Band-Aid off" experience, said Forse.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, but the renumbering at JFK wouldn't necessarily be surprising. In fact, another major U.S. airport, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), uses three-digit numbers for its gates at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) also renumbered its gates in 2020, giving each gate a letter and a number corresponding to each terminal.

While the gates at JFK may soon be renumbered, it doesn't sound like changes are on the horizon for how the terminals are numbered.

Once the redevelopment project is complete, JFK will have a Terminal One, Terminal 4, Terminal 5, Terminal 6 and Terminal 8.

Though logic might dictate that the Port Authority should rebrand the terminals to be sequential, the agency isn't ready (yet, at least) to make such a move.

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