Sending Fliers Up the River To Ease Traffic

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

THE MIDDLE SEAT
By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Sending Fliers Up the River To Ease Traffic
March 4, 2008; Page D1

Deer graze beside the main access road here in Newburgh, N.Y. Boarded up buildings dot a hillside. A single skycap stands in the cold outside the airport terminal, longing for a customer. It is hard to picture this little-used rural airport as a key to congestion relief for New York and the nation's air-transport system, but that is the $600 million hope of many. Stewart Airport, an abandoned Air Force base 60 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, is being transformed into a fourth airport for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York's airport operator.

Unable to build additional runways at La Guardia, Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports, the Port Authority paid $78.5 million to buy a 93-year lease on Stewart and pledged to invest $500 million more to turn it into a bustling hub. The state of New York just completed construction of a new access road and is working on making interstate highways connect more easily to the airport. And the Port Authority has already built a 400-spot parking lot.

The plan starts with making Stewart a discounter destination for New York, much as London developed Stansted Airport and Luton Airport as bases for discounters so they didn't clog Gatwick and Heathrow. Already, Skybus Airlines Inc., a bare-bones operation based in Columbus, Ohio, flies to Columbus and Greensboro, N.C., from Stewart. AirTran Airways Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp., along with regional partners of Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and US Airways Group Inc., fly to Stewart. And Port Authority officials recently went to Europe to entice discount operators there to use Stewart for trans-Atlantic flights.

(snip)

Easing congestion in the New York area would improve air-traffic flow nationwide. New York was responsible for a majority of all delayed flights last year -- delays that cascade through the nation's air-travel system and create havoc for millions of travelers. So extreme were the problems last year that the federal government is imposing new restrictions on the number of flights at Kennedy and Newark (restrictions already exist at La Guardia). But big cities face obstacles in creating "reliever airports." Airlines sometimes resist, since it is easier to fill flights when they're concentrated at the same airport. And passengers, particularly business travelers, like to go to airports with lots of flights in case one gets canceled or schedules change. Chicago proposed creating a third airport in Peotone, Ill., but airlines fought the proposal vehemently. Los Angeles has pumped lots of money into Palmdale, Calif., hoping to make it a reliever for the congested LA Basin, but so far only United Airlines is offering limited, subsidized service.

The idea has worked elsewhere. London's satellite airports in the countryside have been growing rapidly, driven largely by discounters easyJet and Ryanair. Boston is ringed by several competing airports with commercial service, from big operations at Providence, R.I., and Manchester, N.H., which have become major destinations for Southwest Airlines and others, to fledgling development at Worcester, Mass., and former military bases in Portsmouth, N.H., and Bedford, Mass. Skybus now flies to Portsmouth, formerly Pease Air Force Base about 44 miles from Boston. At Stewart, passenger traffic tripled last year to 920,000 from just 300,000 in 2006 -- still tiny compared with the 100 million who use the three main New York airports annually.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120459119819109007.html (subscription)

[SoCalDem]

1. That's how California does it..

We have many smaller airports, and it eases the pressure on LAX...

We flew out of Long Beach last time we flew..and loved it.. It reminded me of the olden days.. had to walk out onto the runway and up the porta-steps..

No lines to speak of, and a very laid-back experience.. we parked in a gravel lot, right next to the airport ..and it was free parking :)

[question everything]

2. Yes, Long Beach has provided a nice alternative

but is still in the LA/OC air congestion.

LAWA is trying to push more into Ontario and Palmdale, but without efficient mode of transportation, like a dedicated rail line or freeways it is hard to motivate people.

And the selection of flights is still the best at LAX.