NEW WINDSOR – Air fares at Stewart
Airport are, for the most part, comparable with some other area airports
and despite limited service, the Newburgh area facility’s passenger
loads are very high. That assessment came from New York State Acting Aviation
Bureau Director Gerardo Mendoza.
Stewart’s difficulty in increasing service is similar to the same problem at other smaller airports – airline consolidation. Just a few years ago, there were eight legacy carriers – airlines that had established interstate routes prior to deregulation in 1978. Now there are four.
“That consolidation and cutbacks result in limited services,” Mendoza told the Stewart Airport Commission on Tuesday. “Stewart has some service to leisure destinations, vacation destinations that do well, but they are not big profit flights. The people who go on vacation tend to fly a lot less than business travelers, so one key would be to have more flights to business destinations and to cater to local business travelers.”
That may be easier said than done. Airport officials have been wooing legacy carriers and discount airlines and foreign carriers with no success to date although they say some have expressed interest.
