<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History of Stewart International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">In 1930, Thomas "Archie" Stewart, an early aviation enthusiast and descendant of prominent local dairy farmer Lachlan Stewart, convinced his uncle Samuel Stewart to donate "Stoney Lonesome", split between the towns of Newburgh and New Windsor,</p>
<p class="blog-para">to the nearby city of Newburgh for use as an airport. With the city strapped for cash due to the Depression, however, it was unable to develop it in any way. In 1934, Douglas MacArthur, then superintendent of the United States Military Academy, proposed flight training cadets at the airport. The city sold the land to the military academy for one dollar. A small dirt airstrip was cleared and graded. One of the gates at USMA has been known as Stoney Lonesome Gate ever since.</p>
<p class="blog-para">After the creation of the United States Air Force following World War II, the army airfield was converted to an air force base while still being used for training cadets at West Point. Stewart became the home of Headquarters 1st Region Army Air Defense Command in 1966. It remained so until the deactivation of the Nike Hercules system at the end of 1974. The air force base was deactivated in 1970, and it officially remained unoccupied by the Air Force until 1983, when the 105th Airlift Wing (105 AW) and the 213th Engineer Installation Squadron (213 EIS) of the New York Air National Guard took up quarters.The Air National Guard unit has flown support missions not only for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but also for humanitarian relief efforts.</p>
<p class="blog-para">Two years later, after approval by the state's attorney general and comptroller, as well as the FAA and the carriers, the contract was awarded to the UK-based National Express PLC, the only one of five bidders to have declined to present at a special forum organized a week prior to the award, and also a company Lauder had praised in his book for its success with the UK's national bus service and subsequent acquisition of East Midlands Airport, leading to some suspicions that the state had always intended to give it the airport from the beginning. NEG (National Express Group) was prepared to pay $35 million for the lease, and after working out the details, Pataki handed over a ceremonial key at the passenger terminal in late 2000.</p>
<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">Transportation of Stewart International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">One of the biggest impediments to the use of Stewart by more airlines and passengers has been getting to it. The Drury Lane exit and the access road, International Boulevard, are intended to remedy this.</p>
<p class="blog-para">There have been plans to possibly implement a light rail connection along Broadway in Newburgh that could conceivably go out to Stewart from the ferry connection with the Metro-North passenger line across the Hudson River in Beacon. This project does not appear likely to happen any time soon. Currently, the only connection is via a shuttle bus.In 2006, with construction of the Drury Lane exit underway, Senator Charles Schumer put his weight behind getting federal aid for another long-discussed access improvement a rail link to the nearby Metro-North Port Jervis Line to give passengers an express train trip from the airport into the city or Newark Airport via Secaucus Junction. This would entail acquiring property and laying new tracks to link to the existing line somewhere near Salisbury Mills station. NEG had had success with the similar Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline rail-air connections in its native Britain. While the federal government has approved the idea, the money has not yet been appropriated.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Bus connections:</strong> Starting in June 2017, to support Norwegian's growth in making the airport a terminal for visitors to New York City, Coach USA began providing a bus service between the airport and Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. This service is operating under the name "Stewart Airport Express.</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="Stewart International Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/stew/1.webp" alt="Stewart International Airport " width="950px" height="500px"></p>