The TWA Flight Center Building - thin-shell structure by Eero Saarinen

TWA Flight Center was the original name for the Eero Saarinen designed terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport for Trans World Airlines. The terminal had a futuristic air; The interior had wide glass windows that opened onto parked TWA jets; departing passengers would walk to planes through round, red-carpeted tubes. It was a far different structure and form than Saarinen's Dulles Airport, which utilized mobile lounges to take passengers to airplanes. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1940x952, 1129 KB) Summary TWA Flight Center, soon to be part of a new Jetblue Terminal Photographed by Marc N. Weissman (2004) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1940x952, 1129 KB) Summary TWA Flight Center, soon to be part of a new Jetblue Terminal Photographed by Marc N. Weissman (2004) I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under... The worlds first double curvature lattice steel Shell by V.G.Shukhov (during construction), Vyksa near Nizhny Novgorod, 1897 Thin-shell structures can be defined as curved structures capable of transmitting loads in more than two directions to supports. ... Saarinens Gateway Arch frames The Old Courthouse, which sits at the heart of the city of Saint Louis, near the rivers edge. ... Saarinens Gateway Arch frames The Old Courthouse, which sits at the heart of the city of Saint Louis, near the rivers edge. ... John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK) is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in south-eastern New York City. ... Trans World Airlines (IATA: TW, ICAO: TWA, and Callsign: TWA), commonly known as TWA, was an American airline company that was acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. ... Aerial photo Washington Dulles International Airport (IATA airport code IAD, ICAO airport code KIAD) serves the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. ...

Following American Airlines' buyout of TWA in 2001, John F. Kennedy International Airport#Terminal 5 (closed)Terminal 5 went out of service. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had proposed converting the main portion of the building into a restaurant and conference center, but some architectural critics opposed this move. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK) is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in south-eastern New York City. ... The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state agency (operated pursuant to an interstate compact) that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure including the bridges, tunnels, airports and seaports within the New York-New Jersey Port District. ... Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld For other uses, see Restaurant (disambiguation). ...

It was completed in 1962 and is the airport's most famous landmark (as well as being a National Historic Landmark). It was built before the age of terrorism and hijackings. Gates in the terminal were close to the street and this made it difficult to create centralized ticketing and security checkpoints. This building was the first airline terminal to have closed circuit television, a central p/a system, baggage carousels, an electronic schedule board and precursors to the now ubiquitous baggage weigh-in scales. JFK was rare in the airport industry for having company owned and designed terminals; other airline terminals were built by Eastern Airlines and American Airlines. Individually branded terminals included the Worldport of Pan American World Airways and the Sundrome of National Airlines. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... For the Chinese airline, see China Eastern Airlines. ... American Airlines and American Eagle aircraft at San Juan American Airlines is the largest airline in the world in terms of total passengers transported and fleet size, and the second-largest airline in the world (behind Air France-KLM) in terms of total operating revenues. ... Worldport was the trademarked name for Delta Air Lines Terminal 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport when it was owned by Pan American World Airways. ... Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. ... The Sundrome was the name for the terminal of National Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport. ... National Airlines was the name of two different airlines based in the United States. ...

Besides being known to JFK passengers and architectural buffs, it was also the site of filming of the Steven Speilberg movie Catch Me if You Can. Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio but raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona), is an American film director whose films range from science fiction to historical drama to horror. ... Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 motion picture set in the 1960s. ...

In December 2005, JetBlue, which occupies the adjacent Terminal 6, began construction of an expanded terminal facility, which will utilize the front portion of Saarinen's Terminal 5 as an entry point. The peripheral air-side parts of Terminal 5 have been demolished to make space for a mostly new terminal, which will have 26 gates and is expected to be complete by 2008. The building is under restoration and expansion by JetBlue. jetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) is an American low-cost airline. ...

External links

• Port Authority Press Release on Renovation
• Galinsky Tour of Building, Visiting Information
• Boston Globe on Saarinen and the popularity of the terminal
• Case to Save Terminal in 2001
• Close Up Interior Shots