History
Stewart International Airport is located almost entirely in the Town of New Windsor, Orange County, New York, even though the airlines refer to the Airport as "Stewart Newburgh". The "Stewart Newburgh" designation is that the Stewart family gave the land to the City of Newburgh for a city airport back in the 1930's. During World War II the City of Newburgh turned the airport over to the United States Government for the purposes of training West Point cadets to fly. The field grew and at the end of World War II it became Stewart Air Force Base. Stewart was used for North American air defense until 1972, when the Air Force determined that the base was excess, and deed Stewart Air Force Base to the State of New York.
The State of New York concluded that Stewart Air Force Base would be an ideal additional airport for the New York City metropolitan region. In order to make Stewart Airport large enough to fulfill that vision, the State of New York needed to acquire additional land besides the former Air Force Base. Therefore the State acquired 7,000 acres of private lands in the Town of New Windsor by eminent domain in 1973, for the purpose of expanding Stewart into a major international airport. Over the intervening 25 years from 1972 to 1997 Stewart Airport became Stewart International Airport and grew and developed. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over the operation of Stewart International Airport on November 1st, 2007 and continues today.
Capabilities
The original Air Force Base runway was extended to almost 12,000 feet and the cross wind runway is 6,006 feet. The Airport can accommodate any aircraft in the world, including the Antonov (AN-124) and the Space Shuttle. The Airport boasts a Category II instrument landing system which enables Stewart to be operational almost 100% of the time.
Stewart International Airport is located 60 miles north of New York City, at the intersection of two major interstate highways, Interstate 84 which runs east to west, and the New York State Thruway I-87, which runs north to south. The new I-84/International Boulevard Interchange leads to Stewart's new main entrance which is located in New Windsor. The service area covered by Stewart International Airport includes the New York State Counties of Orange, Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester; the New Jersey Counties of Bergen, Morris, Passaic and Sussex; the Pennsylvania County of Pike; and the Connecticut Counties of Fairfield and Litchfield. The total population of those counties surpasses 5 million people.
Stewart boasts a full service passenger terminal building that includes jet ways, car rental services and concessions that sell food and sundries. A number of major airlines serve many U.S. cities with direct flights to Stewart. There are non-stop flights to Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington - Dulles.
The Federal Government has a major presence at Stewart International Airport. U.S. Customs, including Immigration and Naturalization, are on hand; the U.S. Postal Service general mail facility is located at Stewart; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a full-service animal import/export center. In addition the New York Air National Guard has its largest C-5 Unit at Stewart. The Marine Corps also maintains a wing of C-130 aircraft at Stewart. The two military organizations occupy state of the art military facilities.
Future
Stewart International Airport is growing in passenger and air freight, but Stewart is also developing large business parks in the vast non-aviation related acreage of the Airport. The expansion business parks are located primarily in the Town of New Windsor. The Town has been busy preparing for development of those business parks by upgrading and enlarging the capacity of the Town's water treatment facility and sewage treatment plant.
The Town of New Windsor is proud to have Stewart International Airport as the airport is located within its boundaries. The Town looks forward to working hand in hand with Stewart International Airport to become the key asset in the Hudson Valley of the State of New York, a vital link in the U.S. transportation network, and a home base for thousands of high technology and other well paying jobs.