NEW YORK – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board
is expected to approve funding and construction of a Federal Inspection
Station at the Stewart International Airport terminal and to change the
name of the airport.
With the advent of international service to Europe by Norwegian Airways,
the passenger terminal is in need of permanent facilities to separate
international and domestic passengers. At present, a movable wall separates
the two.
The proposal, to come before the Port Authority Board on Thursday, would
appropriate $30 million to design and build the addition on the passenger
terminal and authorize “actions necessary to change the airport’s
name.”
Airport officials want to rename Stewart “New York International
at Stewart Field” in an effort to rebrand the airport as a New York
metropolitan area facility.
Passengers flying into the airport from Europe may now access New York
City via the Stewart Express, a dedicated Coach USA bus service.
Retaining the Stewart name in the airport title would maintain the acknowledgement
that the Stewart family, which in the 1930s, donated the first land that
became the airport, Port Authority officials say.
Family members, though, oppose the name change contending that the 93-year
lease contract signed over 10 years ago requires that the name of the
airport will remain Stewart International for the duration of the lease.
The state Department of Transportation owns the land upon which the airport
is located.
