Stewart International Airport
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stewart International Airport, officially New York Stewart International Airport , is a public/military airport in
Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...
, United States. It is in the southern
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
, west of Newburgh, south of Kingston, and southwest of
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...
, approximately north of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City. The airport is located within the towns of Newburgh and New Windsor. It is included in the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
(FAA)
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...
for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. Developed in the 1930s as a military base to allow cadets at the nearby
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
at
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
to learn aviation, it has grown into a significant passenger airport for the mid-Hudson region and continues as a military airfield, housing the
105th Airlift Wing The 105th Airlift Wing (105 AW) is a unit of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. If activated to federal service, the 105th Airlift Wing will be brought under the command of the Un ...
of the New York Air National Guard and Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452 (
VMGR-452 Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452 (VMGR-452) was a reserve United States Marine Corps cargo squadron that previously flew the Lockheed Martin KC-130J. The squadron fell under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 49 (MAG-49) and the ...
) of the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
Reserve. The
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
could have landed at Stewart in an emergency. After its closure as a
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
base in the 1970, an ambitious plan by Governor
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
to expand and develop the airport led to a protracted struggle with local landowners that led to reforms in the state's
eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
laws but no actual development of the land acquired. In 1981 the 52 American hostages held in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
made their return to American soil at Stewart. In 2000 the airport became the first U.S. commercial airport
privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
when United Kingdom-based
National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
was awarded a 99-year
lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
on the airport. After postponing its plans to change the facility's name after considerable local opposition, it sold the rights to the airport seven years later; the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...
board voted to acquire the remaining 93 years of the lease and later awarded AFCO AvPorts the contract to operate the facility. The Port Authority rebranded the airport as New York Stewart International Airport in 2018 to emphasize its proximity to New York City.


History


Stewart Dairy Farm

In 1930 Thomas "Archie" Stewart, an early aviation enthusiast and descendant of prominent local dairy farmer Lachlan Stewart, convinced his uncle Samuel Stewart to donate "Stoney Lonesome", split between the
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
s of Newburgh and New Windsor, to the nearby city of Newburgh for use as an airport.Stewart International Airport – A Journey in Flight
retrieved from stewartinternationalairport.com January 27, 2007.
With the city strapped for cash due to the Depression, however, it was unable to develop it in any way.


Stewart Airfield

In 1934
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...
, then superintendent of the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
, proposed flight training
cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...
s at the airport. The city sold the land to the military academy for one dollar. A small dirt
airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...
was cleared and graded. One of the gates at USMA has been known as Stoney Lonesome Gate ever since. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
many barracks and other buildings, which still stand, were built on the base. In January 2008, the Town of New Windsor received a $2.5 million
grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...
from the state to
demolish Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a bu ...
30–40 buildings as part of the redevelopment of the former base. First Columbia, the developer, said that 20–30 could be retained and reused.


Stewart Air Force Base/Stewart Air National Guard Base

After the creation of the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
following World War II, the army airfield was converted to an air force base while still being used for training of cadets at West Point. Stewart became the home of Headquarters 1st Region Army Air Defense Command in 1966. It remained so until the deactivation of the Nike Hercules system at the end of 1974. The air force base was deactivated in 1970 and it officially remained unoccupied by the Air Force until 1983 when the
105th Airlift Wing The 105th Airlift Wing (105 AW) is a unit of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. If activated to federal service, the 105th Airlift Wing will be brought under the command of the Un ...
(105 AW) and the 213th Engineer Installation Squadron (213 EIS) of the New York Air National Guard took up quarters. The
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
unit has flown support missions not only for U.S. military operations in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
but also for humanitarian relief efforts. This area of the airport, now called Stewart Air National Guard Base, was home to the Air Force
C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...
aircraft before being replaced by the newer and smaller
C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...
in 2011. Stewart ANGB also hosts
VMGR-452 Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452 (VMGR-452) was a reserve United States Marine Corps cargo squadron that previously flew the Lockheed Martin KC-130J. The squadron fell under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 49 (MAG-49) and the ...
, a
Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...
squadron flying the
KC-130J The Lockheed Martin (previously Lockheed) KC-130 is a family of the extended-range tanker version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The KC-130J is the latest variant operated by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), with 48 delivered ...
.


Stewart International Airport


MTA Expansion plan

In the early 1970s,
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
's administration saw the potential for Stewart to support the metropolitan area. Its long runway made it particularly attractive for intercontinental service via
supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...
(SST), then under development in the U.S. and elsewhere. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
was the first government body to try to convert it into the New York metropolitan area's fourth major airport. It tripled the airport's territory, extending its land well beyond its previous western boundary at Drury Lane, a two-lane rural road. The state government used its
eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
powers to take 7,500 acres (30 km) for terminals, runways and a buffer zone expanding the airport from Newburgh into neighboring towns of Montgomery and a small portion of Hamptonburgh. The land was bounded by
I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
to the north, Route 207 along the south and roughly by Rock Tavern and
Maybrook Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– N ...
in the west.


Local opposition

Area residents who were already fighting a large power plant proposal at nearby Storm King Mountain fiercely fought the expansion. They took the state to court, ultimately forcing the legislature to write and pass the New York State Eminent Domain Procedure Act, a sweeping overhaul of its existing law on the subject. In order to get the last holdouts off their land, state officials pledged that outside the proposed airport facilities, none of the land taken would ever be redeveloped, a promise that was to haunt them years later. By the time the land was finally available, the
1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
and the attendant increase in the price of
jet fuel Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...
had forced airlines to cut back, and some of the airport's original backers began arguing it was no longer economically viable. US SST development was canceled in 1971, undercutting another argument for the project. Malcolm Wilson, Rockefeller's successor, put the project on hold; and his successor,
Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Part ...
, ended it permanently in 1976.


New York State Department of Transportation ownership

In early 1981, the 52 U.S. hostages held at the former U.S. Embassy in
Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, Iran, returned to American soil there following two weeks at U.S. bases in Germany and 444 days of captivity, ending the Iran hostage crisis. The route they took from there to West Point is marked today as "Freedom Road." The next year the state transferred control from MTA to its own Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), with a mandate to improve and develop the airport. Three years later
W.R. Grace William Russell Grace (May 10, 1832 – March 21, 1904) was an Irish-American politician, the first Roman Catholic mayor of New York City, and the founder of W. R. Grace and Company. Early life Grace was born in Ireland in Riverstown near the ...
became the first private tenant when it built a corporate jet hangar, and the following year an
industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...
was built nearby. Finally, in 1990, commercial airline service began with
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
offering service with three daily round trips to both Chicago and
Raleigh/Durham The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to th ...
.


=Continuing development issues

= As the 1980s wore on, veterans of earlier battles over Stewart returned to start new ones. NYSDOT and the Stewart Airport Commission found themselves overseeing not only the airport but the acres of now-vacant land the state had acquired a decade before. After turning over management of most of the property to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which was better equipped for the task, it still faced the problem of what to do with the land. The region's needs had changed. With IBM and other large industrial concerns cutting workers and closing plants, and people leaving, a large swath of buildable land with few environmental problems was seen by many in the local business community as a goose's golden egg. It couldn't be a sprawling airport, but it could be something else, they thought. But those people who remained or moved up from more crowded areas to the south had begun to enjoy the outdoor recreation possibilities the lands, referred to variously as the Stewart Properties or the buffer, offered. Mountain bikers, horses, dirt bikers, ATVers, and hikers had all begun to explore and create trails, and DEC's management opened up the area as a popular spot for local
hunters Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and anglers. DEC had also released captured
beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
s on the properties, who built dams and created new
wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
. One local hunter, Ben Kissam, formed the Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition (SPARC) in 1987 to oppose efforts to develop the lands. They and other environmentalists and
conservationists The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the f ...
argued that the whole area would be better off left as a park, pointing to the growing diversity of species on the lands and the state's original promise not to redevelop the area. They were joined, too, by some area residents who said that the existing air traffic, particularly the military C-5s were noisy enough as it was. Also generating a lot of noise was the continuing debate in
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
about what to do with the land, with participants' choice of words ("buffer" vs. "properties") suggesting where they stood, and interpretations differing about just how much of the land was really meant to serve as a buffer. The administration of
Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...
tried several times to come up with a plan that would balance these interests, but failed. As one of its last acts, it started a renovation of the passenger terminal using a federal grant. SWF had occasionally had scheduled air-taxi service, but in April 1990
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
arrived with three
Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
nonstops a day to Chicago and three more to their new hub in Raleigh–Durham. Nonstop flights to Dallas Fort/Worth were later added as well. Jet nonstops to Atlanta (Delta) and Pittsburgh (USAir) appeared in the next couple of years; Delta later added Cincinnati and USAir tried Baltimore.


Privatization

In 1994
George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...
campaigned on improving efficiencies by privatizing money-losing state projects.
Ronald Lauder Ronald (Ron) Steven Lauder (born February 26, 1944) is an American businessman, billionaire, philanthropist, art collector, and political activist. He is the president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007. He and his brother, Leonard Lauder, ...
, who had written a book about European successes in privatizations, suggested Stewart be privatized. Pataki created the New York State Council on Privatization and appointed Lauder its chair. Federal law at the time required that all airports providing passenger service had to be owned by some public entity. With much support from the New York delegation, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
eventually passed legislation allowing five airports to be privatized as a pilot program, providing certain conditions, such as approval by the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
(FAA) and by the carriers representing at least two-thirds of the airport's flights. In 1997 the state formally began, through the
Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...
(ESDC), the process of soliciting bids for a 99-year lease on the airport and, potentially, the adjacent undeveloped lands as well, whatever bidders wanted. Efforts by SPARC, now headed by Kissam's widow Sandra, and other citizen activists to find out about who might be bidding and what they planned to do with Stewart were blocked by the state's invocation of a clause in its State Finance Law prohibiting disclosure of competitive bids prior to the award of the contract, an interpretation that survived a court challenge. Two years later, after approval by the state's
attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
and
comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...
as well as the FAA and the carriers, the contract was awarded to the UK-based
National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
PLC, the only one of five bidders to have declined to present at a special forum organized a week prior to award, and also a company Lauder had praised in his book for its success with the UK's national bus service and subsequent acquisition of
East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
, leading to some suspicions that the state had always intended to give them the airport from the beginning. NEG (National Express Group) was prepared to pay $35 million for the lease, and after working out the details Pataki handed over a ceremonial key at the passenger terminal in late 2000. The award also ended, for the most part, the controversy over whether to develop the properties or not. NEG was uninterested in the lands west of Drury Lane, and Pataki announced with the privatization deal that he was directing that ownership as well as management of 5,600 acres (22.4 km2) of the lands west of an envelope DOT retained around Drury for possible future development or disposal be transferred directly to DEC, which has since made that portion Stewart State Forest. Stewart was one of the many regional airports to be used during the Emergency Ground Stop after the
September 11th Attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, taking in dozens of planes forced to land.


The Drury Lane exit

Simultaneously with the privatization, the state proceeded with long-held plans to build a new interchange on Interstate 84 at Drury Lane, which would also be widened. A four-lane east–west access road, International Boulevard, would also be created to better solve the airport's longstanding access problems (see below). Conveniently, the initial price tag, $35 million, was exactly the amount bid by National Express. The new exit, designated 5A, was opened in the fourth quarter of 2007.Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; November 24, 2007; http://www.panynj.gov/CommutingTravel/airports/pdfs/swf_fact_sheet.pdf The new north–south route is now designated Route 747. Another complication emerged due to the proximity of the Catskill Aqueduct of New York City's water supply system to the exit; a proposed widening of Drury between the interstate and Route 17K would have required that a bridge be built over the aqueduct to protect it from the vibrations associated with heavy trucks, adding to the cost of the whole project. An alternative emerged during a value-engineering study of simply rerouting Drury to create another four-way intersection further down 17K, which was ultimately done. Whether the properties along Drury could even be developed in any measure remains to be seen, as a good portion of that parcel is either wetlands or a
trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a Convex polygon, convex quadri ...
-shaped Runway Protection Zone in which the FAA mandates that nothing be built, and the remainder is land considered by conservationists to be the best land in the properties. SPARC, the Orange County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs and the national
Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that required environmental reviews were not done or done improperly; that action tied up the exit's construction for a while. In March 2005, an area slated for wetlands mitigation under the plans was found to harbor purple milkweed, a Species of Special Concern on the National Heritage Program's rare plant list. SPARC and its co-plaintiffs sought an
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
against further action such as the consideration of bids, yet that went ahead anyway. The controversy was settled by a deal announced on November 21 of that year. SPARC accepted a compromise where in exchange for the construction of the exit and access road 1,700 acres (6.8 km2) of the remaining buffer lands would be added to the forest and restrictions would be imposed on development of the remaining 400 acres (1.6 km2) in the northeast corner of the properties, near the exit.Kissam, Sandra; November 22, 2005
Statement by Sandra Kissam at SPARC Coalition Press Conference at Little Britain Grange
SPARC website; retrieved September 16, 2006.
In July 2006, the state formally transferred ownership of the state forest from DOT to DEC, ending the process of creating Stewart State Forest. Orange County was not thrilled with the state's decision to charge it $3.7 million for the area near the exit, saying that it was too much on top of the costs it would incur putting in infrastructure. DOT says it's just asking fair market value for the land.


NEG Management

NEG's marketing initiatives included several proposed new names for the airport to emphasize its proximity to the city. The last one, in 2006, which would have dropped the "Stewart" name entirely, met with local opposition and was ultimately dropped. Stewart has a limited selection of flights available and is relatively uncrowded most of the day. Some tenants have moved into nearby former military buildings, but most remain as unoccupied as they were the day the base was closed down. It has drawn some passengers from western
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
who might otherwise have flown out of
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
. But most of the fliers within Stewart's catchment area have continued to prefer Albany International Airport,
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
or other metropolitan airports.
Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
pulled out of the airport shortly after the privatization announcement, ostensibly to better serve new routes it had won to Latin America, leaving it to
codeshare A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...
partners Comair and ASA. Even one of the "tourist draws" for the airport evaporated in 2003 when the
Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
was grounded. Its pilots had used the lengthy runway to practice touch-and-go landings. NEG's dealings with the state were not as harmonious as they were initially represented; documents made public by SPARC after the privatization was completed showed that there were many lingering issues between the two parties even at that time and that NEG had in fact considered breaking the deal at one point (as it would later ultimately do). The company has gone through some local management shuffles as well, and the parent corporation's sale of East Midlands, considered the example it would follow with Stewart, was a cause for concern in the region. While some local officials expressed disappointment, others saw NEG as getting out of the airport business entirely to concentrate on its core business in the bus and rail sectors. They hoped at first that another European company with experience running privatized airports would be interested, and industry analysts said the timing was good. Governor
Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...
promised area leaders that Stewart would be a top priority for his administration, and the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...
, which runs the New York area's three main airports, expressed interest in assuming NEG's obligations.
Allegiant Air Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a major air carrier, the fourteenth-largest commercial airline in North America. Allegiant was founded in 1 ...
pulled out of Stewart in early 2007 but later returned and currently serves the airport. Both AirTran Airways and
JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...
announced plans for service from Stewart in 2007. AirTran, which had previously served Newburgh in 1995,http://www.departedflights.com, April 2, 1995 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Newburgh flight schedules was subsequently acquired by and merged into Southwest Airlines, which in turn currently does not serve the airport.


Port Authority takeover and end of privatization

On January 25, 2007, the Port Authority voted to buy the lease for Stewart. It took over operating control on November 1, 2007, after New Jersey's acting governor Richard Codey signed a bill the
New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
had to pass, changing the law to allow the move. The PA will pay NEG $78.5 million for the remaining 93 years on its lease. The day after the takeover, an opening ceremony was held in which New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer attended and the Port Authority flag was raised. It has set aside $500 million in its ten-year capital improvement plan to expand the airport. After the takeover, law enforcement became the responsibility of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, or Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), is a law enforcement agency in New York and New Jersey, the duties of which are to protect and to enforce state and city laws at all t ...
.


Airlines and destinations


Passenger


Cargo


Status and expansion

Although 2006's bad numbers may have led NEG to pull out, Stewart's
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
service seemed to be on the rise. Shortly after taking over, the PA reported that the airport's traffic for 2007 would be triple that of 2006. It was reported in January 2008 that Stewart had achieved its goal and had handled 970,000 passengers in 2007. A 2007 plan envisioned changing Stewart's image over the next 20 years: major
renovations Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...
such as a new
terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...
, a train station next to the new terminal connecting the airport to Metro North via a new spur from the
Port Jervis Line The Port Jervis Line is a predominantly single-track commuter rail line running between Suffern and Port Jervis, in the U.S. state of New York. At Suffern, the line continues south into New Jersey as NJ Transit's Main Line. The line is operate ...
, a extension of runway 16–34, new
taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...
s, and a major expansion of the cargo facilities. A new
control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...
has been built. In the fourth quarter of 2007 Interstate 84's new Drury Lane exit, NY Route 747, and International Boulevard opened. In addition to
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
and passenger services, Stewart excels in many other areas not seen by the public. NEG had some success selling private
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
shuttle service to midtown Manhattan's heliports to business travelers from Stewart at rates competitive with those offered from
JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...
; it also remains a popular place to service corporate jets due to the large space available. Cargo services are also part of the mix –
FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the na ...
maintains a large distribution presence just outside the airport, as does the
U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...
, whose main general-mail facility for the mid-Hudson region is not far away. Importers of plant and animal products also route their flights to Stewart and the
USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
inspection facility for those is nearby, on Drury Lane. In 2005, the airport was used to transport emergency personnel and supplies to help the cleanup after the destruction of
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, which devastated the
Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
. With its long runway, Stewart bills itself as an "efficient
diversion airport Diversion airports are airports capable of handling a particular ETOPS ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The I ...
" for aircraft intending to land at one of the three major New York City airports (
Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...
,
LaGuardia LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...
, and
JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
), especially during bad weather. The largest such diversion occurred during the January 2018 blizzard, when a
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in ...
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
on a
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
-JFK flight diverted to Stewart after JFK closed. While the airport's runways are sufficiently long to allow such a large aircraft to land and take off, the plane was so large it could not use any of the terminal building's gates. Passengers had to leave the plane using stairs, and were transported to New York City by bus.
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
, which had served Stewart since 1990, ended
American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet-powered regional airliner with fewer than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28, and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of ...
service to
Chicago O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...
on September 5, 2007. In 1991, American was operating up to five mainline departures a day nonstop to Chicago O'Hare with
Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
jetliners. In 2008, AirTran Airways ended service to Stewart International Airport. The Port Authority sees Stewart as offering relief to those airports and (especially) Teterboro, estimating it could handle five times its present passenger volume. It will probably follow its standard procedure and contract the actual operations of the airport out. In February 2008, the PA's new general manager, Diannae Ehler, said she had been discussing the possibility of foreign flights with a number of European carriers. She felt encouraged and hoped that by 2009 there could be regular passenger service between Stewart and some European destinations. In September 2010, it was announced that Apple Vacations would begin non-stop charter service to Cancún. Flights are operated by Allegiant Air. On August 20, 2013, Allegiant Air announced that it would be returning to Stewart with new flights to St. Petersburg/Clearwater after leaving the airport in 2007. Flights began on October 31, 2013. In May 2015, the Port Authority announced it was considering changing the airport's name to "New York International Airport at Stewart Field." Its stated rationale was to give the airport "global status," to ensure that its name appears higher in Internet searches done by travelers abroad, in keeping with the
business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...
followed by many low-cost European airlines of flying into less busy airports further from the cities they serve in order to keep expenses down. Many local residents were cool to the idea, since the Stewart family name has a long history with the airport and the PA had promised it would never change the name when it took over. On December 5, 2016, General Manager Edmond Harrison announced that
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle Aksjeselskap, ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norway, Norwegian Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the ...
planned to set up a base at Stewart for flights to Europe using its Irish subsidiary. The first international flight departed for Edinburgh on June 15, 2017. On September 14, 2019,
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle Aksjeselskap, ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norway, Norwegian Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the ...
ended service. By 2020, American Eagle had reduced service to one daily flight to Philadelphia. This flight was suspended on October 7, 2020, was resumed on January 5, 2021, then ended on September 30, 2021. On September 30, 2021, about two years after the low cost long haul flights operated by
Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle Aksjeselskap, ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norway, Norwegian Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the ...
ended, a new European carrier -
Norse Atlantic Airways Norse Atlantic Airways AS () is a Norwegian low-cost, long-haul airline headquartered in Arendal, Norway. Founded in February 2021, the airline operates a fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft between Europe and North America. Its inaugural flight too ...
- announced it would operate flights from Europe to Stewart by the first quarters of 2022. Later, however, the airline announced that they would begin flights to JFK instead of Stewart. On June 9, 2022, Icelandic airline
Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...
began a daily service to Keflavik with connections to other European destinations.


Facilities

New York Stewart International Airport covers 1,552 acres (628 ha) at an elevation of 491 feet (150 m) above
mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. It has two
asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
s and one
helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
. The east–west runway 9–27 is long by wide, but the landing threshold at each end is displaced . Aircraft landing to the east have a landing distance available restriction, an additional reduction in length, making only usable for landing. Runway 27 has available for landing. The full length is available for takeoff in both directions. Runway 9 has an
instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...
for category I and category II approaches and an ALSF2 approach lighting system. Runway 27 got an instrument landing system in recent years, but without any approach lighting landing minimums for this runway are higher. The crosswind runway 16–34 is long by wide and each end has
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
-based instrument approaches. The
helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
H1 is
asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
, 40 by 40 feet (12 x 12 m).


Statistics

For the 12-month period ending November 30, 2017 the airport had 47,081 aircraft operations, an average of 129 per day: 54%
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
, 18%
air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...
, 17%
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, and 10% scheduled commercial. In June 2018, 85 aircraft were then based at this airport: 43 jet, 3 multi-engine, 27
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, 5 single-
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
, and 7
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
.
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
records say the airport had 392,464 passenger boardings (enplanements) in
calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...
2008, 197,655 in 2009 and 201,684 in 2010.


Top destinations


Carrier shares


Annual traffic


Access

One of the biggest impediments to the use of Stewart by more airlines and passengers has been getting to it. The Drury Lane exit and the access road, International Boulevard, are intended to remedy this. There have been plans to possibly implement a light rail connection along Broadway in Newburgh that could conceivably go out to Stewart from the
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
connection with the
Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut D ...
passenger line across the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
in
Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...
. This project does not appear likely to happen any time soon. Currently, the only connection is via
shuttle bus
In 2006, with construction of the Drury Lane exit underway,
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
put his weight behind getting federal aid for another long-discussed access improvement: a
rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...
link to the nearby Metro-North
Port Jervis Line The Port Jervis Line is a predominantly single-track commuter rail line running between Suffern and Port Jervis, in the U.S. state of New York. At Suffern, the line continues south into New Jersey as NJ Transit's Main Line. The line is operate ...
, to give passengers an express train trip from the airport into the city or Newark Airport via
Secaucus Junction Secaucus Junction (known as Secaucus Transfer during planning stages and signed simply as Secaucus) is a NJ Transit Rail Operations commuter rail hub in Secaucus, New Jersey. The $450 million, station opened on December 15, 2003, and was ded ...
. This would entail acquiring property and laying new tracks, to link to the existing line somewhere near the Salisbury Mills station. NEG had had success with the similar
Gatwick Express Gatwick Express is a high-frequency rail passenger service between , Gatwick Airport, and in South East England. It is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway train operating company on the Gatwick Express route of the Thameslink, ...
and
Midland Mainline Midland Mainline was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Midland Main Line franchise from April 1996 until November 2007. Midland Mainline ran fast and semi-fast passenger services from ...
rail-air connections in its native Britain. While the federal government has approved the idea, the money has not yet been appropriated. Starting in June 2017, to support Norwegian's growth in making the airport a terminal for visitors to New York City,
Coach USA Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the ...
began providing a bus service between the airport and
Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus station, bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving abo ...
in Manhattan. This service is operating under the name "Stewart Airport Express."


Accidents and incidents

On the morning of August 20, 1987, an
Emery Worldwide Emery Worldwide Airlines was a cargo airline, once one of the leading carriers in the cargo airline world. Its headquarters were located in Redwood City, California. History Emery started in 1946 and was the first freight forwarder to receive a ...
(operating as Rosenbalm Aviation Flight 74)
Douglas DC-8-63 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...
collided with
Airborne Express Airborne Express was an express delivery company and cargo airline. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, its hub was in Wilmington, Ohio. Airborne was founded as the Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California in 1946 to fly flowers fr ...
Flight 124, operated by a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...
, on Runway 09/27 in fog. The Emery airplane landed without first receiving clearance while the Airborne Express plane, which had landed just prior to the DC-8, was taxiing on the runway. Both aircraft were repaired and returned to service. In the early-morning hours of September 5, 1996, the pilots of Federal Express Flight 1406, a
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 197 ...
from
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
to
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
reported smoke in the cargo compartment and made an emergency landing at Stewart to fight the fire. All five crewmembers escaped with only minor injuries but, despite a prompt effort by the firefighting teams from the ANG base (which also handle the civilian airport's fire protection needs) the fire completely consumed the aircraft. Two years later, the
National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
(NTSB) traced the source of the fire to an area where some flammables had been stored but could not pin down exactly which had combusted, and faulted the captain for failing to get full information on potentially
hazardous material Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...
s being shipped.National Transportation Safety Board
NTSB report
retrieved September 16, 2006.
Early on the morning of November 21, 2007, a single-engine Cirrus piloted by Brian Early of
Wayne, Pennsylvania Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the wealthiest areas ...
, got lost in the fog on its approach and crashed in the state forest. He had been dropping off his two passengers, a son and one of his friends, to visit friends of theirs at West Point for
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
. It took rescuers three hours to find the wreckage using the plane's transponder. Early was killed but the younger men survived. A small aerobatic plane crashed at the airport August 28, 2015, killing the pilot, who was practicing stunts at Stewart for the two-day New York Air Show that was to be held there starting the following day. The two-seater single-engine fixed-wing
Giles G-202 The Giles G-202 is an unlimited-level aerobatic airplane designed by Richard Giles. This carbon fiber composite monoplane was manufactured by AkroTech Aviation in Troutdale, Oregon. The tandem two-seater was based upon the single-seater Giles ...
, a
homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
, assembled from a kit, was completing dramatic climbs and dives as a crowd of mostly journalists watched below. Around 2 p.m., as the pilot went into a dive followed by a steep corkscrew climb, part of the tail appeared to break off, witnesses said and photographs indicated. The plane then crossed the crowd line and spun over the heads of spectators, crashing in a wooded area behind the crowd. The pilot, the plane's only occupant, was identified as the plane's owner, Andrew Wright of
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. The
National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
and the
New York State Police The New York State Police (NYSP) is the state police of the state of New York in the United States. It is part of the New York State Executive Department, and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 civilian members. History The State ...
were to investigate to determine the crash's probable cause, the state police and
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
said. The NTSB determined that the resin bond between two parts had failed under stress after repeated aileron rolls. Examination of the bond between the horizontal stabilizer and the flange that attached it to the left side of the fuselage revealed that a portion had a poor bond, with the resin inadequately transferring between the two surfaces. The accident was compared to a similar event in France on the same type of aircraft. As a result of these accidents, the Giles' designer specified several new procedures for aircraft flight handling and inspection. On August 21, 2018, a Gulfstream IV carrying musician
Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his variegated vocals, Malone has gained acclaim for blending genres and subgenres of hip ...
and 15 other people made a successful precautionary landing after two main tires blew during takeoff from
Teterboro Airport Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport in the boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey.Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport is a joint civil-military airport in Hampden County, Massachusetts, three miles (6  km) north of Westfield and northwest of Springfield. It was formerly Barnes Municipal Airport; the National Plan of Integ ...
in western Massachusetts where it once again circled the airspace, burning fuel before its descent attempt in order to lighten the plane's weight. Once again, the plane was diverted to Stewart International Airport due to Stewart being equipped with longer runways, meaning pilots would not need to engage reverse thrusters or spoilers, thereby lessening the weight on the landing gear and the plane's remaining tires. Ultimately, the plane landed on Runway 9, which is nearly double the length of the longest runway at Teterboro Airport.


See also

*
Gander International Airport Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport. The ...
, in Canada, also shared with a separate
military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
* Goose Bay Airport, in Canada, also shared with a separate
military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...


References


External links

* by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
105th Air Cargo Wing, New York Air National Guard

Remember Archie Stewart
(site for opponents of 2006 name change)


Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition
* * * * {{authority control Airports in New York (state) Economy of Orange County, New York Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Newburgh, New York New Windsor, New York Airports established in 1934 1934 establishments in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Orange County, New York Buildings and structures in New Windsor, New York