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 is 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,” Torelli said. “The actual schedule for Norwegian is increasing on October 28 from 22 flights per week to 28 flights per week through next March. We are going to experience continued services from Norwegian. The two destinations that were in question – both Edinburgh and Belfast, we are producing very well for them and the airport.”
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.
