Holiday travelers heading to John F. Kennedy International Airport are being urged to plan ahead as ongoing construction coincides with one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, joined “Mornings On 1” Tuesday to stress the importance of allowing extra time to navigate the airport’s roadways and terminals amid the airport’s $19 billion redevelopment.

“The very important advice to travelers is, leave extra time,” Cotton said. “We recommend, in terms of JFK, leaving three hours to get to the airport so you have plenty of cushion. The delay in getting to the airport on this, one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, could be significant.”

Cotton highlighted alternative drop-off and pick-up options to help ease congestion, encouraging the use of AirTrain stops at Lefferts Boulevard or Jamaica Station.

“There’s a free parking area. You can wait. Tell your arriving passenger to take the AirTrain to Lefferts Boulevard. You can pick them up,” he said. “If you drop them off at Lefferts Boulevard, they have an eight-minute ride to their terminal, and you avoid the congestion traffic.”

It’s expected that 8.7 million travelers will use Port Authority airports and crossings this holiday period, including 3.2 million at area airports. JFK alone is forecast to handle 1.3 million passengers—and despite construction, Cotton said operations have been business as usual.

“Once again, we’ve been surprised that the travel growth, which has been extraordinary since the pandemic ended, has simply continued,” Cotton said. “We set records last year. We’re setting records at all the airports this year, and JFK, in particular, is seeing a surge.”