Why is New York-JFK Airport Named After JFK?
When you arrive in New York from Europe, you land at New York-JFK Airport, the largest airport serving the city. Discover the story behind its name and how it changed from Idlewild Airport.
The original name of New York-JFK Airport
- When New York-JFK Airport opened on July 1, 1948, it had a different name. The airport was built to relieve congestion at LaGuardia Airport, which had opened in 1939 but was already overwhelmed by growing air traffic.
- The new airport was constructed on the site of a golf course, the Idlewild Beach Golf Course. When it opened in 1948, the airport naturally took the golf course’s name and became Idlewild Airport.
- If you had arrived in New York back then, your luggage tags would have read IDL, not JFK as they do today.
A tribute to President Kennedy
- On January 20, 1961, young Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President of the United States. The world was in the grip of the Cold War between the two superpowers of the time: the US and the Soviet Union. Then came a shock in 1963: John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22. America was devastated.
- New York City Mayor Robert Wagner proposed renaming Idlewild Airport to honor the slain President. On December 24, 1963, Idlewild Airport became John F. Kennedy International Airport. The airport code took the initials of the former President: JFK.
- One final note: the old Idlewild Airport code, IDL, was later reassigned to another airport—Indianola Municipal Airport in Indianola, Mississippi.
