Stewart Airport – The announcement earlier this week by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that it will establish a citizens’ advisory committee at Stewart Airport does not preclude continued operation of the Stewart Airport Commission.

The SAC was created by state legislation to provide advice and consent to the state Transportation Department, the airport’s landlord. The Port is buying the remaining 93 years of a 99-year lease from current operator National Express.

Port Executive Director Anthony Shorris said his agency plans to network with the airport commission. “We work closely with the state Department of Transportation and Governor Spitzer has taken enormous interest in Stewart Airport from the first day he was governor, and actually while he was a candidate, so there will be pretty close coordination between us,” he said. DOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn and Shorris have had discussions about the commission, he said.

Stewart Airport Commission Chairman James Wright is encouraged about the working relationship.“I am convinced that it’s their intent to work closely with the Stewart Airport Commission,” he said. “While our role is statutory in regard to advising the DOT in the operation and management of the airport, the 99-year lease agreement that the Port Authority will assume also requires that the tenant, in this case the Port Authority, is required and expected to interact to interact with Stewart Airport Commission on a continuing basis.”

As for the new citizens’ advisory committee, Wright hopes that its membership will include a diversified membership that wants to see Stewart succeed as an economic catalyst for the Hudson Valley. “I don’t feel the group should be used for special interest groups who have very narrow interest and where Stewart Airport’s success is not primary in their minds.”