I haven't seen this mentioned on FT yet, so I thought I'd post it.
The NY times had an article yesterday saying the Port Authority planned to have airtrain working by the holidays. (I was in JFK over Thanksgiving and it was still running on autopilot with no passengers.)
Anyway the article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/nyregion/30TRAI.html
They still hope to connect direct to Manhattan one day. (Like in 10 years.)