FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines today announced that it will begin daily nonstop service between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Zurich, Switzerland, on Oct. 28, using three-class, 189-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

“Zurich is a strong market with broad appeal to both business and leisure travelers,” said Mike Gunn, American’s executive vice president of marketing and planning. “We look forward to strengthening our presence in the Zurich market by serving it from Kennedy Airport, one of our largest international gateways where we’ re accelerating work on a new 2.2-million-square-foot terminal.”

American announced last week that it is advancing the first construction phase of the JFK terminal project by six months and the entire project by nine months. This means that phase two, a mid-field concourse with 17 gates now under construction, will be completed in June 2003, instead of December 2003. The entire project, with three concourses on three levels, is now expected to be completed by September 2006.

When it’s finished, the new terminal will be the largest and most advanced at JFK with 55 gates for jets and commuter aircraft. Its main passenger check-in area will be large enough to hold Giants Stadium, and there will be a new international arrivals facility capable of handling more than 2,400 passengers an hour. Overall, the building will accommodate 14 million passengers per year.

American serves Zurich today from its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The 767-300 airplanes American will use on the JFK-Zurich route feature fully-flat sleeper seats in first class, 60 inches of legroom in business class, and increased legroom throughout the coach cabin - an AA exclusive.

American said the new JFK-Zurich flight will make convenient connections at Zurich to points in Southern Germany, Northern Italy and Eastern Europe served by its partner Crossair.

Here is the Zurich-JFK schedule (all times are local):

FROM JFK TO ZURICH

Flight 64 Departs 5:45 p.m. Arrives 7:35 a.m. next day

FROM ZURICH TO JFK

Flight 65 Departs 10:30 a.m. Arrives 1:45 p.m.

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