Stewart Airport Travel Down But Development Climbs

STEWART AIRPORT – Officials at New York Stewart International Airport had hoped to top the 2018 passenger number of 690,411 in 2019, but failed to do so because of Norwegian Air canceling its service.

The good news is the airport had set a goal of 500,000 for the year and it exceeded that, reaching 525,381 passengers. Officials expect the numbers to grow in 2020 as Allegiant Air had added two additional cities to its service.

Airport Business Development Director Michael Torelli told the Stewart Airport Commission on Tuesday that passenger numbers are trending as they do seasonally. “Typical trend is the peak months are June, July and August when people are traveling the low months are January and February, historically,” he said.

Stewart cargo operations reflected strong growth with freight carried in 2018 totaled 23,259 tons compared with 2019, at 41,864 tons, an increase of 80 percent.

Officials also discussed the developers and owners of the Fairfield Inn Suites by Marriott on Bruenig Road at New York Stewart International Airport are planning to build a second hotel adjacent to their current facility.

A Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott Hotel is awaiting FAA approval before construction will begin, said Michael Torelli. “We are really looking forward to seeing another hotel being built on-site – the Fairfield Inn and Suites. It is going through the process with the FAA, and that is next to the Homewood Suites, so while I don’t have a shovel on the ground start date yet from that, that is contingent upon that review by the FAA, there should not be any issues with it. It’s just a procedure that all development goes through at the airport,” he said.

The first hotel to be built at Stewart, a Courtyard by Marriott, is located at the Stewart Industrial Park on Governor Drive off Route 17K in the Town of Newburgh.

A fourth hotel is also on the drawing boards by another developer across from the main terminal parking lot at Stewart.