John F. Kennedy Airport is an international airport located in just 12 miles southeast of Lower Manhattan in Queens on Jamaica Bay. Initially, the 1942 plan to build JFK Airport was built to a modest airport of only 1,000-acres, a reliever for LaGuardia Airport which didn’t have sufficient capacity in the late 1930s. New York City placed hydraulic fills over the marshy tidelands of what was once Idlewild Golf Course but when construction of the airport, originally named after the golf course and called Idlewild Airport, was complete it was grown to five times the planned size. Commercial flights began their departures in the summer of 1948 and the airport was rededicated as John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963. JFK has seven terminals in operation with more than 125 aircraft gates serving the terminals. In 2001 JFK opened Terminal 4, the only non-airline terminal at JFK. It is hailed as “a model for 21^st Century air travel” with numerous shops and dining options, passenger services, unique lounges and many other amenities including four religious chapels. 2003 saw the building of AirTrain JFK – a light-rail service connecting JFK Airport to both the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and New York City subway and bus terminals. The AirTrain provides free rides between terminals, rental car facilities, hotel shuttle areas and parking lots.  In 2010 the airport saw over 46.5 million passengers walk through its terminal halls making it the busiest international air passenger gateway in the United States. Combined with LaGuardia Airport and Newark International Airport, the three airports make the largest airport system in the United States.