STEWART AIRPORT – The man who brought you Jet Blue, West Jet and Azul Brazilian Airline is starting yet another and New York Stewart International Airport could be on its radar.
Stewart landed Jet Blue early in its schedule because founder David Neeleman was lobbied by US Senator Charles Schumer. Jet Blue’s flights between Stewart and Florida destinations have proven to be highly successful.
Neeleman’s latest creation is Breeze Airline, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He hopes to have it up and running by the end of the year and Schumer is already pushing to have the Newburgh airport as one of its first cities served. “Anything I can get to Stewart I will keep trying to get. I am trying Aer Lingus; we’re trying a whole bunch of airlines and they are one of them,” he said of Breeze.
A spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates New York Stewart, said they talk to a number of airlines on a regular basis in an effort to attract new service.
Breeze is planning non-stop flights to under-served airports across the country.
The latest push by the Port Authority is branding Stewart as an alternative to the Big Three New York metropolitan area airports. That proved to be successful with Norwegian Air’s non-stop flights to Europe. They were pulled, though, when the Boeing 737 Max jets they used were grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes involving other airlines operating those aircraft.
