NEW WINDSOR – The Stewart Airport Commission, which provides advice and guidance to the state Department of Transportation, landlord of Stewart Airport near Newburgh, has been in existence for some 30 years.

Long-time Chairman James Wright, who has just been reelected to head the group for another year, said he believes the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, is “doing its best to market” Stewart.

The airport has broken the 400,000 passenger mark for the first time in three years. Wright said the major issues impacting the growth of Stewart include the need for more airlines, more cities served, more frequency and “fair fares.”

AirTran Airways, which is now owned by Southwest Airlines, used to operate at Stewart. It is going to pull out of Westchester County Airport this coming summer and Wright put in his pitch for it to come back to Newburgh.

“I don’t know what they are going to do with all those Boeing 117 planes; hopefully we can attract them here,” he said. “We have had good success with them in the past. We can particularly fill flights to south Florida and West Palm Beach and hopefully the Port Authority is talking to them as well because they are a factor now in our area.”

Port Authority officials say they are leaving no stone unturned with wooing airlines to fly at Stewart.