Editor's Note: The Worldport was listed in America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2013. Unfortunately, the terminal was demolished by Delta Airlines between 2013 and 2014. This story has been edited to reflect these changes.

Although the Worldport is iconic, its current tenant, Delta Airlines, is planning to dismantle the structure, now known as Terminal 3, in 2015 to make way for a $1.2 billion expansion of neighboring Terminal 4. The original Worldport space will eventually be used as a parking lot for aircraft. [Editor's note: Demolition of the Worldport was completed in 2014, despite protests from numerous preservation and advocacy organizations. Its final departure on May 23, 2013, was a Boeing 747-400 to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport.]

Recently, an online campaign to preserve the terminal has been gaining traction, spearheaded by aviation enthusiast Kalev Savi and partner Anthony Stramaglia. Save The Pan Am Worldport aims to keep this iconic piece of aviation architecture from being demolished, and to see it refurbished and repurposed for new generations of jet-setters.

“You just don’t see buildings like that anymore constructed at airports,” says Stramaglia. “Now a terminal is more like a warehouse than a showpiece. This building is more of an art form.”

Savi and Stramaglia started an online petition a little over a year ago that has garnered 1,818 signatures so far. [Editor's note: The petition closed out with 4,501 signatures]. Their current project is to get the Worldport approved for New York Landmark Status, with the eventual hope that it will be recognized with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other terminals and structures at JFK have been recognized for their historic significance over the years, including the TWA Flight Center, a swooping dome that was completed in 1962 and designed by renowned Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. (It was also added to the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2003.)

“In some people’s mind, that was the building worth saving,” Savi says. “This criticism that there’s no famous architect associated with [the Worldport] I find to be a moot point.”

The New York Port Authority and Delta Airlines have said that the Worldport is beyond repair, and upkeep and maintenance have become impractical and costly. “It’s not an asset you can recover at this point,” Delta CEO Richard Anderson was quoted as saying in The Architect’s Newspaper in 2010.

Other complaints about the space include its small, cramped feel with the addition of baggage screening and TSA security checkpoints, which the architects didn’t have to consider in their original plans. It underwent a renovation in 1971 to accommodate the Boeing 747, but the interior space is still lagging behind modern airport standards. So far, the New York Port Authority and Delta haven’t responded to the campaign.