Delta Air Lines, JFK Terminal 4 Concourse B, Jamaica Queens, NY

Delta Air Lines’ important $175-million, 75,000 sf expansion of concourse B at JFK’s Terminal 4, required updating systems and performing construction without disrupting flight schedules or inconveniencing millions of passengers.

Syska was responsible for the MEP and fire protection engineering and provide construction services support for the project, which involved the design and construction of 11 new contacts gates to Terminal 4, Concourse B.

To ensure seamless design among the trades and project team members, the project was simultaneously designed and modeled using BIM and clash detection from the start. The integrated construction delivery method was central to the project’s success, as it allowed us to be on-site throughout construction, ensure quality control, and to work alongside construction managers, architects and contractors to expedite information and approvals.

One of the biggest challenges was integrating the new systems with the existing ones, without impacting the critical 24/7 operation of the terminal.

The existing central emergency power system was upgraded by 50%, in order to enable the entire terminal to operate at a reduced capacity. This also provides the ability to process flights in the unlikely event of a complete power outage. The proper operation and installation/upgrade of this complex system, which involved several paralleled generators was commissioned by Syska’s engineers.

Today, JKF’s Terminal 4 successfully operates as one integrated unit with all systems working in unison and controlled from a single engineering office. As busy passengers walk through the new extension designed by Gensler Architects, they experience a seamless transition from old to new, with no hint of the underlying phasing.