STEWART AIRPORT – Norwegian Air’s announced termination of
flights between New York Stewart International Airport and Edinburgh,
Scotland and Belfast, Northern Ireland “happen all the time”
when dealing with low-cost carriers, Stewart Business Development Director
Michael Torelli told the Stewart Airport Commission on Tuesday.
The airline said it is ending all US flights to Edinburgh next March because
a continued Scottish tariff making the service unprofitable.
The service cut to Belfast is only a seasonal one and flights are expected
to resume, said Torelli.
“They are doing great with all their flights” at Stewart,
said Torelli. In fact, he said as of October 28, Norwegian will increase
its weekly flights from 22 to 28.
Passenger levels at the Newburgh area airport continue to skyrocket. Statistics
released by Stewart show a month-to-date increase from 2017 to 2018 of
35 percent.
Torelli also noted that through August, passenger count of 452,959 exceeded
the 259,350 for the entire year in 2017 and he said Stewart is well on
its way to surpass the 600,000 passenger mark by year’s end.
The Port Authority airline development team continues to push for additional
service at Stewart. Torelli said most recently, they were in Beijing,
China attending an airline conference.
Cargo tonnage has also increased at Stewart. Month-to-date comparing last
year to this, levels rose by 16 percent from 1,711 tons to 1,985 tons.
