Stewart looks to bring in revenue
Stewart International Airport expects to hit the same number of passengers as it did in 2009.
That was the estimate of Diannae Ehler, airport general manager, during last week”™s Stewart Airport Commission meeting.
It may not be the news airport proponents want to hear ”“ most are hoping for more airlines and more direct flights out of the New Windsor airport. Ehler says flights are down at all three of the airports operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and it is focusing most of its marketing dollars on promoting Stewart.
In another barter agreement, Stewart will pay for a new crime lab for the New York State Police, estimated to cost $10 million, in exchange for their services in policing the airport. “Like everyone else, we are spending our money wisely. This works out for both the state police, which have done an excellent job and for the Port Authority.”
The crime lab will be available to police agencies in the region and construction is expected to begin in 2011. No site has been selected as yet.
Delta and U.S. Airways have both added a few more nonstop flights to their roster, and Ehler hopes there will be more as “passenger loads are reaching the levels airlines are looking for before they will commit to adding more service. Right now, they are at a little bit better than a break-even point … that”™s a good thing.”
Despite the slowdown, Stewart is revving up for more capacity when airline travel perks up, expecting to complete work on its expanded parking lot by June.
Ehler told commission members plans are in the works to expand the baggage area to include a separate wing for international charter flights, which she hopes will start by the end of this year.
The Port Authority initially committed to spending $500 million to upgrade the airport, “and that hasn”™t changed,” she said. The airport is spending its money conservatively and where needed, but like most businesses, is waiting for a more stable economic climate to take hold, she said. To date, the Port Authority has invested $47 million in improvements.
Cargo loads are up slightly over last year, and Ehler didn”™t include the cargo JetBlue is now transporting in and out of Stewart, using Richmor Aviation, the fixed-base operator that took over Pacific Aviation nine months ago, as handler.
What could really be a boon to Stewart and other regional airports around the state is the private aviation industry. Even in a recession, celebrities and high-profile business people haven”™t parked their private jets in a hangar to collect dust.
Fritz Kass, who is on New York”™s Aviation Management board, told commission members that Gov. David Paterson signed into law a permanent sales and use tax maintenance exemption for aviation in New York last year. “What New York will lose in taxing sales and use on maintenance, it will make up on the sale of fuel. We proved that to Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, who was initially against it,” said Kass, “and the Legislature signed it into law. When a jet pilot says, ”˜Fill it up,”™ we are talking about a $30,000 to $40,000 fill-up.”
What Silver did not do was pass the bill in its original language, which also called for exempting the one-time fee for changing the home base of private jetliners. “For someone like Bill Cosby, who keeps his jet in Teterboro (New Jersey), what is the sense of paying New York a one-time $3 million fee to keep his jet in Stewart? He knows that bringing his private plane here is going to create jobs ”“ and high paying ones to pilots, mechanics, as well as paying for fixed-base operators to house his jet, and also pay fees to the airport? Where is the incentive for these people ”“ and there are plenty of them right here in our midst ”“ that have taken their planes to New Jersey and Connecticut, which allows these exemptions, bypassing New York as a result. Connecticut has seen a boom in their revenue since enacting this legislation and many people have left Westchester County Airport and headed to Connecticut as a result.”
Kass said a political action committee specifically set up to lobby for New York”™s air industry has been created, and “everyone is on board this one. Why should New York come in last when it comes to this revenue stream? You aren”™t going to find a single elected official in this state that is going to argue their community does not need aviation dollars.”
Kass said the second half of the proposed change to New York”™s current aviation law is going to “remain on hold until Albany enacts a budget, but the end result means revenue for every county and district in this state that has aviation as an income generator if it passes.”