There is room for more at Stewart, say PA officials

WASHINGTON – The House Aviation Subcommittee and many of its members, including Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, are not happy with the FAA’s recommendation to alleviate the capacity problem at New York’s Big Three airports, namely through a slot auction system.

Oberstar strongly questioned FAA officials at a hearing in Washington Wednesday and asked what role Stewart Airport at Newburgh would play in easing the aviation crunch.

Port Authority Aviation Director William DeCota told the hearing that in the long-term, Stewart could help solve the problem.

“We’ve got a regional airport system that’s handling 110 million passengers. We know that 10 million of those passengers would either prefer or be indifferent to using Stewart Airport if their airline, their destination, their time of day, their airfare were available. That’s not going to happen any time soon in a very limited air service airport,” he said. “The goal is to figure out a way as to how to attract more of those people who now use Newark, Kennedy, LaGuardia, to actually use Stewart Airport.”

DeCota pointed out that after the Port bought Stewart last November, it committed $500 million to upgrade the infrastructure of the Newburgh airport.

Congressman John Hall, whose district includes much of Stewart and many communities that are in the New York flight path also challenged the FAA’s proposed capacity changes.