Data is being gathered that may one day help push more airlines to consider flying out of Stewart International Airport.
There are some surprises in the report on Stewart flyers commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration, called a regional air service demand study. The overall study is wider than Stewart, covering airports in four states around New York City, and aims ultimately at finding solutions to overcrowding at metro airports.
A shifting of traffic into underutilized Stewart is one possibility, one that Stewart operator National Express Corp. hopes will occur.
The Stewart Airport Commission heard Tuesday from a consultant that:
* Of passengers using Stewart, 78 percent are leisure flyers and only 22 percent are on business.
* Newark Liberty International Airport was also considered by 30 percent of the flyers who were interviewed at Stewart; LaGuardia Airport was considered by 20 percent and JFK by 18 percent.
* Stewart has strong loyalty. Of all flyers choosing Stewart, 59 percent didn't consider any other choice at all, and as to general preference, 80 percent said Stewart was tops. None of the others broke 8 percent.
* Dutchess County residents provided 31.7 percent of all Stewart passengers covered in the survey, second only to Orange County's 36.6 percent. But on the basis of how many people per thousand of population use Stewart, Dutchess was No. 1.
* Top reasons for picking Stewart are shorter travel times, convenient flight times and ease of parking.
Charles Van Cook, project manager for consultant Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade & Douglas, Inc., told the commission that the next steps are forecasts for airfield use, determining ultimate capacity of each airport and integrating all the findings. A "possible phase two" may lead to some action on the findings.
"It's an inexorable march to capacity," Van Cook said. That will be reached in the metro market in perhaps five to seven years, and certainly in 10, he said.
"Stewart offers one interesting opportunity," Van Cook said.
Phoughkeepsie Journal
There are some surprises in the report on Stewart flyers commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration, called a regional air service demand study. The overall study is wider than Stewart, covering airports in four states around New York City, and aims ultimately at finding solutions to overcrowding at metro airports.
A shifting of traffic into underutilized Stewart is one possibility, one that Stewart operator National Express Corp. hopes will occur.
The Stewart Airport Commission heard Tuesday from a consultant that:
* Of passengers using Stewart, 78 percent are leisure flyers and only 22 percent are on business.
* Newark Liberty International Airport was also considered by 30 percent of the flyers who were interviewed at Stewart; LaGuardia Airport was considered by 20 percent and JFK by 18 percent.
* Stewart has strong loyalty. Of all flyers choosing Stewart, 59 percent didn't consider any other choice at all, and as to general preference, 80 percent said Stewart was tops. None of the others broke 8 percent.
* Dutchess County residents provided 31.7 percent of all Stewart passengers covered in the survey, second only to Orange County's 36.6 percent. But on the basis of how many people per thousand of population use Stewart, Dutchess was No. 1.
* Top reasons for picking Stewart are shorter travel times, convenient flight times and ease of parking.
Charles Van Cook, project manager for consultant Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade & Douglas, Inc., told the commission that the next steps are forecasts for airfield use, determining ultimate capacity of each airport and integrating all the findings. A "possible phase two" may lead to some action on the findings.
"It's an inexorable march to capacity," Van Cook said. That will be reached in the metro market in perhaps five to seven years, and certainly in 10, he said.
"Stewart offers one interesting opportunity," Van Cook said.
Phoughkeepsie Journal
