New York’s hometown airline JetBlue has broken ground on the extension to its world class home at John F. Kennedy’s Terminal 5 to pave the way for an international arrivals facility.

Set to open in early 2015, the thoughtfully-designed space includes six international arrivals gates - three new and three converted from Terminal 5 - and an International Arrivals Hall with full US Custom and Federal Inspection Services to deliver a seamless travel experience for customers arriving from international flights on JetBlue and select partner airlines.

JetBlue’s resident and chief executive Dave Barger along with the airline’s executives and crewmembers joined Homeland Security chairman Peter King; Queens Borough president Helen Marshall; City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer; US Custom and Border Protection JFK port director Susan Mitchell; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s aviation director Susan Baer; and representatives from the JFK airport community to commemorate the announcement.

Business partners working jointly with JetBlue on the project, including Gensler, Ammann & Whitney, Arup, AECOM, Gleeds USA, Turner Construction, were also on hand.

The facility will open in 2015

“Today is truly a groundbreaking day for JetBlue as we begin work on our international arrivals terminal at T5,” Barger.

“We are excited to work with all of our partners at JFK and beyond to move forward with this project which, when completed, will make all domestic and international operations seamless and convenient for our customers and consolidate our flight operations under one roof.”

JetBlue is the largest domestic airline at JFK, operating more than 150 non-stop flights daily to 56 destinations throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.

The customer service friendly airline carried more than two million travellers from the airport last year to its many international destinations including Barbados; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Jamaica; Mexico; Saint Lucia; St. Maarten; and Turks and Caicos - all of which will soon enjoy the seamless experience of arriving into the new international arrivals terminal extension.