Bombardier’s contract to operate and maintain the AirTrain system at New York’s JFK Airport has been renewed.
Bombardier
NEW YORK — Bombardier Transportation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have renewed Bombardier’s contract to operate and maintain the automated AirTrain system at John F. Kennedy Airport, which connects airport terminals with Long Island Rail Road and New York subway stations.
The five-year contract is valued at $309 million, Bombardier said in a news release. Bombardier has been operating the system since 2003.
The 8.1-mile system serves 10 stations — six airport terminals and four off-airport locations — and operates 24 hours a day. Service between terminals handles about 12.8 million customers per year; paying service to off-airport locations handles about 8.2 million passengers.
How many people take this to or from Jamaica Station? What percentage of all riders? I can understand using it for the terminals and parking lots, and I’m a full believer in having rail connections from the center of a city to / from the airports, but for the life of me I can’t imagine why anyone with luggage would find their way to Penn Station, figure out how to buy a LIRR ticket and what trains connect, then figure out how to get their luggage down to the correct platform, then how to squeeze it on a very crowded train, not having any idea of what part of the train they should be in, then getting off at Jamaica and trying to figure out how to get across, then up to the bridge level, all the way across to the PA building, then the long walk west to the train, buy another fare, than finally take it to JFK, assuming it’s actually running. Now if we ever get the old Rockaway line back open with direct links to Penn and GCT (if ever ESA is finished) that would make for far better rail connections to JFK with a lot less hassle.
How is Bombardier doing as a public company?