Norwegian Air carried 33,592 revenue-paying passengers between Stewart Airport in Newburgh and European airports in June, its highest monthly number since it began operations at the airport in mid-June last year. The Scandinavian carrier’s highest previous monthly total in terms of passengers at the airport was last August, when it carried 27,120 paying passengers. With a full year’s data now available, Norwegian is on a trend to improve on a month-to-month basis on its previous performance.
According to Port Authority, the airport’s owner, Norwegian carried 136,587 revenue passengers to and from Stewart in the second half of last year. In the first half of this year, traditionally the slower six months, it carried a few more: 136,749.
That’s good market acceptance in the Hudson Valley for Norwegian, distinct progress in a single year. Those upward-moving numbers bode well for the airline at Stewart.
The low-cost long-distance Scandinavian carrier is still beset by a stretched balance sheet and the perils of fast expansion. If it is forced into major change, however, it won’t be because its bold decision to come to Stewart helped drag it down.
The Newburgh airport was also buoyed by an increase in the number of domestic passengers from 142,581 in the first half of 2017 to 169,887 in the first half of this year. The domestic gain – almost 20 percent on a year-to-year basis – was mainly stimulated by Allegiant Air’s continued expansion of seat capacity.
There is a major opportunity here for Stewart to become a US Hub servicing Norwegian Air arrivals as a point of passenger connection to major US airports. One could strategize bringing one or two additional US carriers into Stewart so Norwegian Connections could catch more flights on new carriers from Stewart to: Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, LA, SF, Seattle, and Chicago…ramping up with new carriers, and expansion by existing carriers would
be the next logical and important step to Stewart operating as one of the NYC Metro Area’s top airports. Thus leading to major improvements in the terminal, building of a parking garage, an on-site hotel, and new regional corporate offices in the Stewart-Newburgh area as well. Hopefully – and curious – if this long-term thinking is happening?