It doesn”™t matter where you travel in the U.S. these days ”“ the airline business is being pummeled, with companies folding faster than napkins and thousands of layoffs in the industry.
Locally, however, at least one airport seems to be holding its own.
Westchester County Airport, set on 702 acres, is managed by the New York State Department of Transportation. The DOT currently has 10 airlines running out of its White Plains hub and said it has seen passenger traffic climb from 900,000 in 2006 to 1.6 million in 2007.
While its neighbor to the north, Stewart International Airport in Orange County, is expecting to see Air Tran pull out on Sept. 3, Westchester County Airport says Air Tran has already announced it is scaling back its operation in White Plains. “We are not sure how much of a scaling back they intend on doing,” said Lawrence Salley, commissioner of transportation for Westchester”™s DOT. “But we are expecting JetBlue to increase its number of flights, so we”™re hoping for a net wash.”
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has asked JetBlue to increase service out of Stewart. The airline recently announced that it, too, would be scaling back service by cutting out its West Palm Beach flight after Labor Day weekend and limiting flights to Orlando to one a day. Originally, the West Palm run was seasonal, and JetBlue said it would see if it would be profitable to keep it going year-round. Apparently, that has not been the case for the discount carrier.
At Westchester County Airport, Northwest has announced the elimination of services to Minneapolis-St. Paul, saying that while flights were full leaving Westchester, the connecting flights to California weren”™t. “That cutback will happen in August,” said Salley. “U.S. Airways is also eliminating some of its service to Boston out of (Westchester County Airport) beginning in September.”
The county airport enjoys several fixed-base operators, including Avitat, Signature Flight Support and Panorama/Million Air, which has its own flight school. Some corporations have their own hangers ”“ IBM and Interlaken, to name a few.
Stewart has two fixed-base operators (FBOs): Pacific Aviation, which recently introduced on-demand helicopter service from Stewart into mid-town, and Atlantic Aviation. “Pacific has just moved up to being a full-scale operation, which gives us two FBOs and a little negotiating room when it comes to pricing,” said Pasquale DiFulco, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the New Windsor airport.
Both Westchester County Airport and Stewart agree while things have been tough, the airline industry is cyclical. “Do you remember airlines that flew during the 1970s?” said Salley. “Where are they now? Gone. That”™s what happens. Yes, the oil crisis has definitely hurt the airline industry. Where it once accounted for 10 to 15 percent of their expenses, for some, it is now over 50 percent.”
Every airline charges $4.50 per passenger it flies out of every airport, minus an 11-cent charge for collecting the fee. That goes to the airport to help maintain services or into a general fund.
Westchester County Airport”™s spokesman said the airport can handle up to 1.8 million people comfortably, but parking is at a premium. “Don”™t bring your car if you don”™t have to,” advised Salley. “Get a ride, or catch the Bee-Line ”˜Air Link”™ to get to the airport.”
Similarly, Stewart found itself with a parking crunch when it took over the airport in November 2007, quickly building additional parking areas to accommodate passengers. Now, with Skybus gone and AirTran leaving in September, it will take a while to get the airport”™s numbers back up.
“We are looking on the bright side,” said DiFulco. “In 2006, National Express Group had a total of 309,071 passengers. In the first four months of 2008, we had 370,198 people fly out of Stewart. We know we are going to take a hit this year, but we didn”™t comemes. The Port (Authority) has been in this business for decades, and we are moving ahead as scheduled. The (problem) facing the airline industry is not a ”˜Stewart”™ story ”“ it”™s an international one.” into this short term. We will be here for 93 more years. While we are disappointed, we”™ve seen the cycle. We”™ve committed $500 million to rebuilding the airport”™s infrastructure, and that hasn”™t changed or stopped during these troubled ti
For Westchester County Airport, however, its proximity to wealthy Fairfield County, Conn., as well as its own robust concentration of businesses, has not caused much flapping of wings ”“ at least, not yet.
“We”™re expecting to have an average year,” said Salley.
