United's Newark Plans Will Reinvent New York Airport Tech and Food Offerings


Skift Take

Newark's Terminal C is on track to help raise NYC area airports from the ashes and make passengers want to arrive early to these airports out of desire rather than obligation. Terminals A and B? Still wastelands.

Newark Airport isn't known as the most desirable departure point, but United's plans to overhaul its Terminal C hub aims to dissolve this negative perception as restaurants by dozens of celebrity chefs and 6,000 iPads step onto the scene. Led by airport technology and design vendor OTG, Newark's redesigned Terminal C will feature two dozen celebrity chef restaurant concepts and have iPads at 75% of the terminal's gates -- two hallmarks of the $120 million project. About 45 of the new restaurants and retail markets will open during the next seven weeks in a transition program, and the full experience is expected to be phased in over the next 18 months, with the first permanent restaurants debuting summer 2015. The new eateries list includes Saison, a French bistro by Alain Ducasse, and Tesori Italian Steakhouse by Mario Carbone. This is all part