ValleyVines

Come fly with us

Here are just a few changes residents can expect to see now that the Port Authority has taken over Stewart International Airport. Besides the extreme makeover the airport’s parking lot is already getting, more is in store for the Hudson Valley:

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The Red Coats are coming!

No, not the ones that invaded our shores during the American Revolution. These “red coats” are part of the new management garb at Stewart. Velma Vaughn is wearing what will become the familiar attire for those traveling through Stewart. The red coat’s job? “Help people have a good experience at the airport and make traveling easier,” said Vaughn. “Our red coats are also easy to spot,” said Dianeae Ehler, airport general manager. “Our guests can spot a member of our customer-care team quickly.”

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Skybus cleared for takeoff

Bill Diffenderffer, Skybus CEO, announced his planes will be flying out of Stewart. Diffenderffer’s cut-rate fares offer a distinctly different perk: Ten $10 flights each day on his fleet. “We aren’t on the ground long,” said the offbeat CEO. “You don’t make money sitting on the runway.” Seven days a week, twice-a-day flights from Stewart to Columbus, Ohio, will begin Jan. 6, while Stewart to Greensboro, N.C., service begins Feb. 25. Let the airfare wars begin!

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Lasting impressions

Fred and Mary Stewart Hafer, son Tom and his wife, Ann Hafer, Archie Stewart’s descendants, trucked this newly discovered 200-lb. memorial created by West Point’s Stewart Airfield to the Port Authority’s Nov. 1 ceremony and donated it to the “new” facility. Likewise, state Sen. Bill Larkin donated a plaque commemorating the transfer of the former West Point training base to the airport, joining the Hafer West Point marker as part of the Port Authority’s collection of Stewart artifacts. Where these pieces of airport history will ultimately end up has not been determined. To date, nothing’s been written in stone.

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Enter here

It’s been a long time coming and it’s almost here: a new main entrance to the airport, right off Interstates 87/84. The Port Authority is working to “bridge” the connector road to the Drury Lane interchange, bringing cars and trucks directly into the airport from the highway. The new road is scheduled to be ready for business before the Christmas holidays. The agency is completing the work left undone by National Express Group. International Boulevard, which leads from the connector road into the heart of the airport, is nearly complete and workers were planting trees along the divider as Gov. Eliot Spitzer and a slew of political heavyweights raised the Port Authority flag in front of the terminal.

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Remember this

This is how Stewart Airport looked from the top of hill of Airport Centre Drive when the Port Authority took over Nov. 1. Although no official plans have been announced, a new terminal, additional runways, a new rail connection (perhaps another “plane to the train?”), expanded parking and hotels are either in the works or under serious discussion. Expect to see cargo significantly increase as haulers take advantage of Stewart’s position in the Boston-Washington corridor. Little doubt this landscape will be a memory once the Port Authority starts redeveloping its new 2,400-acre property.

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New businesses join our Hudson Valley community:

Small Smiles Dentistry of Newburgh ­ Hopefully, creating big smiles when you get the bill!

Biscuit Realty ­ Offering homes you can really sink your teeth into.

Fresh & Alive ­ A more pleasant alternative to spoiled and dead.

Dream Rentals ­ To get you through those sleepless nights.

Lotus Hospitality ­ To make you feel fresh as a flower after a droopy day.

 

 

 

 

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