The late Archie Stewart at the entrance to the airport in
the early 1990s
NEW WINDSOR – The Stewart Airport Commission, an advisory group that provides advice and consent to the state transportation department, the landlord of Stewart Airport, adopted a resolution on Tuesday supporting the Port Authority’s exploration of a name change to give the Newburgh area facility more of a global identity.
While no name has been advanced, Port Authority officials have said the
new name would likely include “New York” in it to market the
facility as a metropolitan New York City area.
The agency is in the final stages of having a consultant study the issue and make recommendations.
Commission Member Christopher White said a name change would honor the
Stewart family’s contribution by making the airport successful.
“If you are in another country or another state, you may not know Newburgh, you may not know Stewart, you may not know Hudson Valley, but you know New York,” White said.
If a new name is put on the table, there is still the issue of the lease between the state and Port Authority which says the name will remain “Stewart International Airport.”
Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus doesn’t see that as insurmountable.
“That is something they will have to work out with their lawyers and at the end of the day the Port Authority and New York State are pretty much attached at the hip so they are going to have to work that out on their own,” Newhause said.
Stewart family matriarch Mary Stewart Hafer, Archie Stewart’s daughter, maintained her opposition to a name change unless the Stewart name was first.
“When President Kennedy was assassinated, people wanted to rename all sorts of places in his memory,” Hafer said. “They wanted to rename Logan Airport at Boston. This was strongly resisted by the Logan family. They wanted to rename Cape Canaveral. This was strongly resisted by the local inhabitants. My father, Archie Stewart, had a conversation with me at that time. He said, ‘after I am dead, somebody will say Old Stewart is no longer here, so let’s rename that airport. It will be up to you to stop them.’ I agreed.”
Airport Manager Edward Harrison told the Commission that travelers want to get to New York as a destination and Stewart is a low-cost option to the big three New York metro airports.
