Foye, right, talking with New Windsor Town Supervisor
George Green. Listening is Orange County Partnership
President Maureen Halahan
NEW WINDSOR – 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.
“We believe that anchoring the name of Stewart Airport, including the Stewart family name, but with a geographical location, for instance New York, Downstate New York, or some variation on that – Hudson Valley perhaps, some variation on that will appeal to the users of Expedia and Orbits and people outside the geographical region of the Hudson Valley,” he said.
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
people 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 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.
