Abandoned airport terminal becomes luxury NYC hotel

The TWA international airport terminal overlooking the JFK runway is now a high-end 512-room hotel with rooftop pool and six restaurants

Spotted: Overlooking one of JFK International Airport’s busiest runways, the new TWA Hotel’s 512 rooms have floor-to-ceiling glass windows. They are the second thickest glass panels in the world and are designed specifically to cancel noise.

The hotel provides a heated rooftop pool, observation deck, six restaurants and luxury shopping, including a vintage-style TWA lifestyle line. The pool is open year-round, and Michelin-starred chef Georges Vongerichten runs the Paris Café restaurant. Specialist coffee bars are available throughout, and 1960s-inspired cocktails include the Royal Ambassador, one of the original drinks served by the airline. And for the real runway experience, one of the brand’s 1958 Lockheed Constellation planes, nicknamed Connie, has been transformed into a cocktail lounge.

Opened in 1962, the TWA (Trans World Airlines) flight centre has sat empty since 2001, when TWA went bankrupt. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the terminal was listed on the United States’ National Register of Historic Places in 2005. 

The hotel is taking bookings, and the grand opening event is planned for Autumn 2019.