An uptick in travel has helped Stewart International Airport boost its passenger numbers and an increase in cargo over the past two years”™ tonnage were welcome news to members of the Stewart Airport Commission.
Michael Torelli, filling in for Richard Heslin, who became the airport”™s new general manager Oct. 1, is a former member of the Orange County Partnership and is now manager of properties and business development for the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey. Leading the Sept. 27 meeting, Torelli gave the commission and public participants an overview of the airport”™s statistics and future plans to build out the current terminal to accommodate international flights.
Chairman James Wright was happy to hear of the improvement, but was also interested in finding out why the PANY/NJ left the commission to learn the latest airport news through media outlets, rather than updating members directly. Vice chair Lou Heimbach questioned why members were not invited to PANY/NJ meetings in Manhattan to take part in discussions about Stewart.
Attorney Paul Quartararo, another commission member, asked Torelli why Stewart “keeps being referred to by the Port Authority as a ”˜reliever”™ airport ”“ we know what the word means in baseball. Will international traffic be diverted here when Kennedy or Newark are closed … or will the new terminal be used to enhance Stewart”™s desirability?”
Torelli said that a new study being conducted within the next 18 months on the role the airport plays in the Port Authority”™s overall plan will give the commission an opportunity to have their say. Quartararo countered by pointing to the 13 million bookings that happen at the PANY/NJ”™s other airports, while a fraction are using Stewart for their travel needs.
“What is the true potential for Stewart?” asked Quartararo. “We know people do not want to fight traffic and pay high tolls to fly out downstate … why is the Port Authority not taking advantage of Stewart but continuing to spend billions on downstate airports? I don”™t doubt the Port Authority”™s commitment … but we”™d like to determine what will happen in the next 50 years.”
Wright also queried Torelli on the lack of weather reports for Stewart, noting downstate airport conditions are constantly updated on radio and television. Torelli said the PANY/NJ has resolved the issue and Stewart”™s weather conditions will be part of the information network to the media in the future.
Commission members listened to a presentation by the New York State Aviation Management Association, which will hold a meeting at Westchester County Airport on Oct. 18 to brief those involved in the industry on how it is working to get funding for air transportation, an item left out of the state”™s budget.
The proposed Aviation Jobs Act, a bipartisan effort in both the NYS Senate and Assembly, is calling for the elimination of general aviation sales and use tax, among other incentives, to attract business to New York airports. Currently, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which have no such tax in place, are recipients of the bounty of private jet owners, accompanied by the economic development that are part and parcel to those preferred parking spots.
Getting funding for aviation is on the “to do” list of the Hudson Valley”™s Empire State Development task force, Quartararo said.
Jim Petro, a lifelong resident of the area, said his father talked about Stewart”™s growth and the potential of losing acreage on his golf course for its build out when he was a young boy. “That was back in 1958,” said Petro, chairman of the Orange County IDA, with a touch of irony in his voice.  “Still, it”™s good to see the Port Authority has taken over here.”
The commission meets next on Nov. 29 at 8:30 a.m. The meeting, on First Street on the airport”™s grounds, is open to the public.
