January 25, 2007
Port Authority Gains Stewart Airport
Air travelers, rejoice: The Port Authority has decided to lease Stewart Airport. Both Governors Spitzer and Corzine support the plan, and the Port Authority says the deal is "a major milestone."
The agency, overseen by NY and NJ, hopes that by having a fourth area airport, crowding problems at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark airports can be alleviated. Port Authority officials have projected that JFK, LaGuardia and Newark will grow from 104 million passengers to 150 million in 2025. Stewart Airport, which now has about 300,000 passengers, could triple to 900,000 this year, and, with infrastructure expansion, could grow to handle 10 million.
Some facts about Stewart International Airport: It's 55 north of NYC, near Newburgh (maybe you've been on a flight that's stopped there briefly to refuel); it's a converted Air Force base of 2,400 acres that's actually bigger than Newark; and JetBlue flies out there.
|
Lets see, the nearest rail stop is across the river in Beacon on Metro-North's Hudson Line. Is the PANYNJ going to build rail link from there? Probably not. Something really needs to be done to make the place easily accessable!
Toby, I don't think it's meant to be used primarily by city dwellers. I think by expanding this airport, people who live in the Hudson Valley area (Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, etc etc) can use that airport rather than having to travel all the way to Newark, JFK, or LaGuardia. After all there are millions of people who live in that region (and I'd say 90% of them drive and own cars)
Yeah - I think the hope is that a lot more cargo can be sent there, too.
For a time in the early 1990s American, United and Delta all had regular flights from SWF to Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, and points in Florida. When IBM cut down from 50,000+ employees in the area the airlines cut back and eventually left entirely.
There's various freight lines that run through Newburgh, it might be possible to build a spur off one of those that links into the Port Jervis line.
It has one of the longest runways for a commercial airport. The east-west strip is allegedly an alternate landing spot for the space shuttle.
Toby,
actually there is a stop on NJ Transit/Metro-North at Salisbury Mills, which is roughly 10-15 minutes away. Additionally, there is bus service from Beacon to Stewart.
Yeah, the Salisbury Mills/Cornwall stop on NJTransit's Main line is 5 miles from Stewart. A dedicated train going from Penn St. to the airport could get there pretty quick.
Actually you are on to something "epc". Stewart has the longest "official" runway in America. (the longest "unofficial" runway is Area 51) The Hudson Valley is a hot spot for UFO sightings and the theories are that Stewart AIR FORCE BASE was a testing ground for experimental crafts used by the military. You need a long runway when you don't know how the plane will land, right?
The sightings in the Hudson Valley have dipped in the last 10 years probably due to Stewart going public.
Am I the only one who thinks that we're spending *way* too much money on airports compared to other forms of transportation, especially when the airlines are privately funded?
That said, in the grand scheme of things, $78 million seems like a bargain. On that note, I think that this will more likely cut into LaGuardia and JFK's traffic instead of Newark. Although LaGuardia has some pretty major faults, it's never felt particularly crowded the times I've flown out of it. Newark's *always* crowded (and expensive)