Officials to OK changing name of Stewart airport

Port Authority officials are expected to approve changing the name of Stewart International Airport.

NEW YORK » The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board is expected to approve funding and construction of a Federal Inspection Station at the Stewart International Airport terminal and to change the name of the airport.

With the advent of international service to Europe by Norwegian Airways, the passenger terminal is in need of permanent facilities to separate international and domestic passengers. At present, a movable wall separates the two.

The proposal, to come before the Port Authority Board on Thursday, would appropriate $30 million to design and build the addition on the passenger terminal and authorize “actions necessary to change the airport’s name.”

Airport officials want to rename Stewart “New York International at Stewart Field” in an effort to rebrand the airport as a New York metropolitan area facility.

Passengers flying into the airport from Europe may now access New York City via the Stewart Express, a dedicated Coach USA bus service.

Retaining the Stewart name in the airport title would maintain the acknowledgement that the Stewart family, which in the 1930s, donated the first land that became the airport, Port Authority officials say.

Family members, though, oppose the name change contending that the 93year lease contract signed over 10 years ago requires that the name of the airport will remain Stewart International for the duration of the lease. The state Department of Transportation owns the land upon which the airport is located.