JFK Terminal 1: 26 airlines in a terminal on the clock

Twenty-six airlines check in at Terminal 1, the most of any JFK terminal, and the list reads like a roll call of European and Asian flag carriers. The full list:

• Air China (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Air France (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Air New Zealand (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Air Serbia (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines (committed to Terminal 6)
• Brussels Airlines (committed to Terminal 6)
• Cayman Airways
• China Eastern (committed to the New Terminal One)
• EgyptAir (committed to the New Terminal One)
• EVA Air (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Gulf Air (committed to the New Terminal One)
• ITA Airways
• Korean Air (committed to the New Terminal One)
• LOT Polish (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Lufthansa (committed to Terminal 6)
• Neos (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Philippine Airlines (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Royal Air Maroc (committed to the New Terminal One)
• SAS - Scandinavian Airlines (committed to the New Terminal One)
• SATA International (committed to the New Terminal One; The directory uses the parent company's name; the airline trades as Azores Airlines, which is the name on the New Terminal One partner list.)
• Saudi Arabian Airlines (committed to the New Terminal One)
• SWISS (committed to Terminal 6)
• TAP Portugal (committed to Terminal 6)
• Turkish Airlines (committed to the New Terminal One)
• Viva Aerobus (committed to the New Terminal One; The airport directory still lists this carrier only as "VB". The trading name is confirmed by the New Terminal One's own April 2026 partnership announcement.)

The moves split this terminal in three. 18 of the 26 carriers are named on the New Terminal One's own airline partner list, so they stay on this site and inherit the replacement building. Five are named on Terminal 6's partner list instead, which means a move across the airport to the north side: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, all four checked against the developer's own list on September 10, 2026. The remaining three, Asiana Airlines, Cayman Airways, ITA Airways and TAP Portugal, have published no destination at all. None of it has a committed date, so near any announced opening your boarding pass outranks every guide, this one included.

One connection trap comes with the alliance geography. Three Delta partners use Terminal 1, Air France, China Eastern and Korean Air, while Delta itself operates from Terminal 4; connecting between the two, Delta tells passengers to collect and re-check bags after clearing customs and says the process can take up to an hour. If you are not sure which terminal your airline uses, the airline terminal guide covers every carrier at JFK.

By public transport, ride the AirTrain, which stops at Terminal 1 on the airport loop: free between terminals and around the loop, terminal to terminal in under 10 minutes with trains every 5 to 15, and $8.75 one way only at the Jamaica and Howard Beach exits.

From Manhattan, take the subway to Jamaica (J or Z) or Howard Beach (the A) and the AirTrain from there, $11.75 all in: $3 subway plus $8.75 AirTrain. The Long Island Rail Road from Jamaica is the faster and pricier option, with a CityTicket at $5.25 off peak or $7.25 peak within New York City. Every route is compared on the guide to getting into Manhattan.

By car, Terminal 1 sits on the Central Terminal Area loop off the Van Wyck Expressway, whose congestion deserves a buffer in any plan. Drop-off is at the terminal curb by level; pickup arrangements around the rebuilt roadways change often enough that the airport's live guidance beats any fixed answer, and the airport map guide shows how Terminal 1 sits against the AirTrain and the other terminals.

Terminal 1's own garage, the Green Lot, is closed under the rebuild, and as of September 10, 2026 the airport's parking page no longer lists it at all. The airport's printed answer sits one terminal over: the Terminal 8 Red Lot carries the note "Recommended parking lot option if you're using Terminal 1," and it happens to be the cheapest terminal garage at JFK: $4 a half hour, $8 a half hour past three hours, a 24-hour maximum of $74, or from $62 booked at least three hours ahead.

The mechanics are painless once you know them: park at the Red Lot, walk to the Terminal 8 AirTrain station, and ride the free loop to Terminal 1. Budget 15 to 20 minutes for the transfer end to end and it stops being a surprise. For anything beyond a day or two, the Long-Term Parking Lot at $55 a day, or from $39 prebooked, undercuts every garage and works the same way by AirTrain.

Rates, height limits, the ADA discount and the prebooking rules all live on the JFK parking guide. One caution from the airport's own systems: the prebooking site has lagged the closures before, so book against the lots on the main parking page rather than a remembered map.

Terminal 1 is the easy building. The airport's walk-time table for it is one line long: every gate, 1 to 5 minutes from security, the shortest published walk at JFK alongside Terminal 7's. There are no concourse splits to plan, no shuttle to weigh, and no far end to dread; once you are through the checkpoint, you are effectively at your gate.

The tenant list tells you what the building is: this is where the long-haul flag carriers live, and the retail leans toward luxury boutiques and sit-down restaurants rather than grab-and-go. Departures and arrivals run on separate levels, as they do across JFK, so drop-off and pickup are different curbs.

No primary source publishes a durable venue list for Terminal 1, which tells you most of what you need: eat before you come or after security, check the interactive map on the day for what is open, and treat any printed list with suspicion in a building that is winding down. The full honest picture, including why a Priority Pass often beats a restaurant here, is on the Terminal 1 food guide.

Terminal 1 is the best lounge terminal at JFK for anyone holding a Priority Pass: six lounges operate here, all in the network, including the landside VIP ONE behind check-in counters E and F and a Korean Air lounge that only opens at night. Air France, Lufthansa and Turkish run their own rooms for their own eligible passengers too. Hours, the landside door and the night window are on the Terminal 1 lounges guide.

Terminal 1 arrivals are almost entirely international, which means immigration and customs stand between the aircraft door and the arrivals hall. For meeters, that is the planning fact: add the border process to the landing time before you leave for the airport, and wait on the arrivals level, or in the landside VIP ONE Lounge if you carry a lounge membership. The live picture for a specific flight is on the JFK arrivals board.

Departing, 26 airlines share one check-in hall and one security operation, and live wait times run for both the general and TSA PreCheck lanes at Terminal 1. Three hours before an international departure is the honest floor, and nearly everything here is international. The consolation is that time spent early is spent airside comfortably: every gate is minutes from the checkpoint, and six lounges wait past it.

Security waits move week to week, so check the live figure on the day rather than planning against any printed number; the security wait guide covers where to look.

Terminal 1 closes when the New Terminal One opens beside it. The replacement is the biggest piece of JFK's $19 billion rebuild: $9.5 billion and 23 gates, opening in phases, with the Port Authority's own project page putting full completion in 2030. Even its size has two official figures: the Port Authority's 2025 traffic report says 2.4 million square feet and the project page says a 2.6 million square foot footprint. On dates, the honest record is the only responsible one, and it is a record of one year and four targets. Phase A was scheduled to open June 1, 2026. In April the team said it could move to October. In May it moved again, to November at the earliest, and Moody's put the project's debt on negative outlook. By July the target was a window from December to March, with construction at 90% and Fitch warning it would likely downgrade if that slipped too. Missing June also put the developer in default on its lease with the Port Authority, which has asked for more detail on its remedial plan. The Port Authority's own 2025 report still says the first 14 gates are set for 2026, and the project page names no phase-one date at all. No date on this page should be treated as settled, because none is.

What that means practically: fly from Terminal 1 normally today, and near any announced opening, check two things, your boarding pass for the terminal and the airline's own advisories, because the carriers noted for a move will not all move at once, and four of them are not moving next door at all. The terminal overview tracks the whole rebuild, including Terminal 7's separate wind-down into Terminal 6 on the airport's other side.

• Believe your boarding pass over your memory. Twenty-two of this terminal's carriers have committed to a different building, and not all to the same one: Air France and Korean Air to the New Terminal One next door, Lufthansa and SWISS across the airport to Terminal 6. What was true last trip may not be true this one.
• Drive to Terminal 8, not Terminal 1. The Green Lot is closed; the Red Lot is the airport's recommended answer and the cheapest terminal garage at JFK. Park, then ride the free AirTrain one way around the loop.
• Connecting to Delta at Terminal 4, allow an hour. Delta's own guidance for Terminal 1 arrivals connecting onward: collect and re-check bags after customs, up to an hour, plus the AirTrain hop.
• Turn a Priority Pass into the wait. Six lounges here take it, one before security. At this terminal the lounge question and the food question are the same question.
• Meeting an arrival, pad for the border. Nearly every Terminal 1 arrival clears immigration and customs first; landing time is not curb time.
• Flying before 7:00 AM, plan on the concourse. The first published lounge door here opens at 7:00 AM, and nothing at Terminal 1 matches the 4:15 AM openings at Terminal 8.