Construction began in 1943 on the marshy Idlewild golf course in Queens, and New York International Airport, universally called Idlewild, opened to commercial traffic in 1948. Through the 1950s and 1960s it pioneered the 'Terminal City' concept, in which each major airline built its own architecturally distinctive terminal. The most famous survivor is Eero Saarinen's swooping TWA Flight Center of 1962, now reborn as the TWA Hotel. Pan Am's Worldport and the international arrivals building made Idlewild the glamorous front door of the jet age.
The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International in December 1963, one month after the president's assassination. It served as Concorde's principal American destination from 1977 until supersonic services ended in 2003.
Hosted the first Boeing 747 commercial flight in 1970. JetBlue's Terminal 5 opened in 2008 behind the preserved Saarinen building, and Delta consolidated at an expanded Terminal 4. Today JFK is midway through a multibillion-dollar redevelopment that is replacing aging facilities with the New Terminal One and other complexes, cementing its position as the busiest international gateway in North America and one of the most recognizable airports in the world.