New York, NY – Several New Innovations to New York’s Busiest Airports

New York, NY – New York's busiest airport are offering a "cell phone parking lot'' for people picking up arriving passengers.

Instead of driving in circles or trying to seem invisible in illegal spaces, they can park free and wait for the traveler's cell phone call to summon them to the pickup point.

While cell phone parking has not been seen previously in New York, “it's a fairly new phenomenon at airports around the country,'' said Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and manages JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports.

The system went into effect at JFK just before Memorial Day, it is one of several innovations the Port Authority said Thursday it is implementing as its airports gird for an expected 30 million customers this summer.

Newark Liberty and LaGuardia will have 5,000 new seats for people waiting. There will be new signs, flight information monitors, new seats and floors on the JFK AirTrain's 32 cars, and more food and concession facilities beyond security checkpoints, the authority said. [1010WINS]