Port Authority officials didn”™t disappoint when they told the Stewart Airport Commission they were prepping the terminal”™s lower level for international flights.
Susan Baer, director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, last week announced a new nonstop charter from Stewart to Cancun beginning Saturday, Feb. 12 and running through Saturday, April 23.
The charter flights, run by Apple Vacations in Philadelphia through Allegiant Air, a former carrier at the airport, start at $499 round-trip for airfare only or airfare and a hotel for $699 and up. There is an additional $2.50 Sept. 11 security fee and taxes and other fees of $100.95 per person. For an additional $200, a seven-night stay at the Radisson”™s Hacienda can be added.
Baer told media who gathered in the baggage area of the airport it was “just the beginning” of what airport officials hope would become a robust charter operation. Stewart has been working on preparing the lower level of the terminal for international flights to accommodate U.S. Customs”™ officials for several weeks and working to bring international charters into the airport for months.
In the rental car area outside the terminal after the press conference, airport General Manager Diannae Ehler told HV Biz the Port Authority is looking at the possibility of expanding the terminal on its northern side, where a rental car area now exists. If Stewart”™s charter flights are popular, it would be an expansion many will be happy to see happen. Since the airline industry nose-dived in 2008, Stewart”™s lost several carriers and thousands of passengers.
Allegiant Air also runs a charter out of Stewart four or five times a year to Las Vegas, but as of now, those flights are only open to members of Harrah”™s.
Flights on the charter to Cancun began taking bookings Sept. 15Â and can be booked through applevacations.com.
