JetBlue had a big party at their newly minted terminal last month and it's a beautiful terminal indeed. It's light, it's airy and with everything from fresh sushi to upscale shopping, it's someplace you might want to, you know, wait for a plane. The $743 million building can handle 250 flights a day through 26 gates that will see 20 million passengers pass through them each year. It's a big deal for the airline, which carries 30 percent of all passengers flying in and out of JFK. JetBlue partnering with specially-selected concessionaire and retail partners, will introduce a unique dining and shopping experience to customers upon the opening of JFK's new Terminal 5 in October. T5 will have 22 food and beverage and 25 retail outlets with a central 55,000 square-foot dining and shopping Marketplace. The value-airline's new New York home will offer over 50 percent more concession space than Its' former home in

Terminal 6. JetBlue has pulled out all the stops with T5. It's 635,000 square feet and sits on 72 acres, vs. 28 acres for JetBlue's previous home at Terminal 6. The airline did some interesting things with the decoration and...

There's an old English expression; "in for a penny, in for a pound" with a very simple but profound meaning: if you are going to invest time and money in a venture, then do it with vigor and conviction. And this is the sense you get when you hear the Port Authority talk about Stewart Airport. Anthony's Pier 9 dining room was filled to capacity on Friday, October 31st for presentations made by Bill DeCota, Director of Aviation for the Port Authority, and Chris Ward, the Port Authority Executive Director. Part of the reason for the presentations was to mark the anniversary of the first year of operation, but perhaps even more important was the second reason; to provide a

vote of confidence that the Port Authority is not going to cut and run. With the overall economy in a weakened state and the outcome of the Presidential election in doubt, there is a sense that we are in a transition period. And while the catchword of "change" being trumpeted by both parties may appeal to some, when you have a successful business, the word change may also have an ominous connotation, So the interest of Chamber...

Frank Festa, President of the North Beach Club of LaGuardia Airport is pictured above holding a Certificate of Appreciation presented by Schneider's Children's Hospital for North Beach Club's contributions through the years to help children with severe illnesses. This year North Beach presented Schneider's with a check for $10,000. The North Beach Club is a non-profit organization at LaGuardia Airport whose purpose is to assist airport employees who experience financial hardships.

We have new leadership at JFK Port Authority Police with Inspector Michael Guarnieri taking over as Commanding Officer of JFK Airport. Mike has twenty-four years of service with PAPD including Operations Captain. Before returning to JFK, he was commanding officer at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Working alongside Mike will be Captain Joseph Scarano who will serve as Operations Captain. Joe has twenty-three years of service with PAPD, eighteen of those years at JFK. He was also commanding officer at the Lincoln Tunnel. The Airport Press joins with Airport Community in wishing Captain Scarano and

Inspector Guarnieri well in their new jobs.

From Part I of this series of articles on our energy crisis; readers know that the road to energy independence cannot be a narrow road, with few options. When we talk energy independence, we need to include the full range of solutions, fossil fuels, nuclear, wind, solar and water. In the past several weeks, many of you may have read about the huge oil field in the Caribbean, about 20 to 50 miles south of the Florida Keys. The field was discovered by a joint venture of Cuban and Chinese oil companies but the actually mapping of the potential field was done by US geologists over 20 years ago. What many of you may not have read is that this oil field, with reserves at least equal to the entire oil reserve of the United States, is partially inside US waters. How can this portion of the oil field be tapped legally by the Cuban-Chinese venture? Easy, it is called "lateral drilling" which is setting up underground lines parallel to the ocean floor. So while we quibble and argue inanities, in less than five years, our competition will be drilling oil from under our noses. And five years from now when we have our next fuel crisis, Americans with short memories will again be blaming the oil companies instead of our politicians. This article isn't pushing a one fuel answer. Prejudicial views on using fossil and nuclear, wind or sun will not help but hurt. Our future energy challenges will require a broad front of solutions and this article is directed as to how our aviation sector cut on fuel expenses; both in the air and on the ground.