Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus and Foye
discuss Stewart’s future
STEWART AIRPORT – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
is looking to grow Stewart Airport’s passenger and cargo service
and chief among its plans to do that is to have it classified as a New
York City airport and change its name to reflect its close proximity to
the Big Apple.
Saying Stewart is “incredibly important” to the region, Port
Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye said they want to give it an
identity that will to put it on the international map.
Speaking to the Orange County Partnership’s Commercial Real Estate
Summit 2015 at the airport on Wednesday, Foye said he expected the airport’s
name to be changed to attract international service. But he made it clear
that any new name, which would give it a geographical identity, would
include the Stewart family name. He mentioned as possibilities New York-Stewart
or Hudson Valley-Stewart and said he expects a name change to be the case.
Foye also said the Port Authority is working to have Stewart classified
as a New York airport, given that it is 60 miles from Manhattan. When
travelers log into travel web sites looking for airports in the metro
area, having Stewart listed among JFK, LaGuardia and Newark would be a
big plus, he said.
Stewart passenger terminal
Stewart also has a lot of unutilized cargo capacity and with it “great
potential” to grow the industry and bring with it jobs for area
residents, Foye said. The Port Authority will be announcing a new air
cargo service at Stewart this summer, he told the real estate site selectors
and brokers at the airport luncheon.
With 80 percent of the current activity at Stewart being general aviation,
he said he expects that segment to grow when a statewide sales tax exemption
on service and parts takes effect on September 1. Without that, there
was a concern that tenants the likes of Cessna Citation, would consider
moving to another nearby state that offers that benefit.
Foye also talked about the governor’s StartUp-NY initiative, which
they would like to bring to Stewart and its environs. That would allow
new companies to locate there and receive a tax-free incentive for 10
years.
On the subject of growing airline service, Foye acknowledged Stewart needs
more frequency and destinations. Airport Manager Edward Harrison said
Chicago and Atlanta hubs are among those being targeted for additional
service. Both had destination airline hubs from Stewart in the past.
