NEW YORK - John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, Stewart International and LaGuardia airports combined to serve a record 109,983,372 passengers in 2007, an increase of more than five percent over 2006 levels.

Passenger demand is expected to continue to grow, and the Port Authority has an aggressive agenda to expand airport capacity to accommodate passengers.  As a part of agency efforts, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners will consider approving funding tomorrow for the study and design development of taxiway and runway access projects that will increase efficiencies and mitigate delays caused by taxiway congestion at JFK.  The $5 million authorization is part of the $150 million Runway Access Improvements/JFK Delay Reduction Program the Board approved in December 2006.

The new taxiway and runway access projects will provide additional flexibility in routing aircraft to and from the ends of runways, improve the staging of departing aircraft and provide space for aircraft to queue for quicker departure.

The runway access program is one of the recommendations of the Port Authority's Flight Delay Task Force, which provided more than 100 recommendations designed to increase capacity, reduce delays and improve customer service without curtailing choices for customers.