Westchester County Airport

History

Westchester County Airport was built during World War II in 1942 as a home to an Air National Guard unit to protect New York City and Rye Lake, part of the city's water supply system. In May 1983, with the growth of suburban Westchester, the Guard unit abandoned Westchester Air National Guard Base and moved to Stewart International Airport, in Orange County.

The first scheduled airline flights were operated by American Airlines in late 1949 with a weekday morning flight from New York LaGuardia Airport to HPN with continuing service to Syracuse and beyond which then returned in the evening. Mohawk Airlines replaced American in 1955 with Mohawk and successor Allegheny Airlines serving HPN until 1979. The first scheduled jet flight was operated by Mohawk with a British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven in 1965. Before the passing of the federal Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, the airport was served in 1976 by Allegheny Airlines operating BAC One-Eleven twin jets and also by several commuter air carriers including Air Speed, Command Airways and Commuter Airlines operating small prop and turboprop aircraft. Air Florida arrived in 1980 and United Airlines during the mid 1980s. American Airlines also resumed mainline service. On January 5, 2006, the airport was the point of departure for the last flight operated by regional carrier Independence Air with this service departing to Washington, D.C. at 7:26 pm.

Major airlines that previously served the airport with mainline jet aircraft include American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Republic Airlines (1979-1986), United Airlines and USAir (now American Airlines). New start up carriers Air Florida, AirTran Airways, Carnival Air Lines and Midway Airlines also served the airport with jets. AirTran began service at the airport in 2006 with flights to Atlanta, Orlando and West Palm Beach. These flights ended on August 11, 2012. Smaller regional and commuter air carriers that previously operated flights included Air North, Altair Airlines, Business Express Airlines, Boston-Maine Airways (operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection), Brockway Air, Command Airways, Commuter Airlines, Continental Express (now United Express), Empire Airlines, Independence Air, Island Air, Mall Airways and USAir Express.

These airlines previously operated the following twin jet aircraft types into the airport over the years:

In addition to the above twin jets, Northwest Jetlink operated by Mesaba Airlines flew British Aerospace Avro RJ85 four engine jetliners into the airport on behalf of Northwest Airlines.

During the summer of 1981, Air Florida was operating nonstop Boeing 737-200 jet service to Bermuda from the airport.

JetBlue began service at the airport in 2007 and is now the airport's largest carrier with 11 daily round trips to five destinations. JetBlue is currently the only airline to serve the airport with mainline jet aircraft.

In June 2009 Cape Air added service to Westchester, with service to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Cape Air introduced service to Lebanon Municipal Airport in New Hampshire in early 2010. All Cape Air flights depart and arrive from the Signature Flight Support facility south of the Main Terminal due to a lack of ticket counter space in the main terminal building.

In June 2010 a regional airline affiliate of Air Canada announced it would cease all flights into the airport. Commuter code sharing service with Beechcraft turboprop aircraft was flown on behalf of Air Canada for several years between the airport and Toronto. This ended international flights until service to the Bahamas began in 2011. However, the airport currently does not have any international nonstop service.

On November 18, 2010 American Airlines ended its American Eagle regional airline service to the airport and instead introduced American Connection flights operated by Chautauqua Airlines as a replacement flying smaller Embraer ERJ-140 regional jet aircraft. Later, the American Connection name was dropped and American Eagle service returned.

In 2013, Delta Air Lines announced that it would start seasonal service to Orlando starting in December of that year. This service is currently operated on a seasonal basis by regional code sharing affiliate Delta Connection.

In December 2015, Tradewind Aviation will begin service to the Morrisville-Stowe Airport in northern Vermont.

Noise abatement procedures

HPN is nestled between many existing neighborhoods and has many rules that must be followed. HPN officials started the Westchester County Airport Aircraft Noise study which set up Airport Noise and Operations Monitoring Systems (ANOMS) around the airport. The ANOMS measure the sound in the surveying area and compare it to the sound of airplanes and the sound of the neighborhoods surrounding the airport. With the help of these devices, HPN officials have located the problems where noise is affecting the area the most.

HPN has implemented six programs that help reduce noise. The first program as stated earlier is the Voluntary Restraint from Flying or VRFF. The VRFF is a curfew for planes to encourage them not to fly during the hours of midnight to six in the morning. Another program is High Range Noise Event Program which uses the ANOMS. If an ANOMS pick up reading of higher than 90 decibels that airplane is then contacted by HPN officials. HPN also has programs that do not allow airplane larger than 12,500 pounds to takeoff at the runway intersections, or run-up their engines without prior approval of airport operations.

Local context

After several renovations, as well as discussions about the airport's viability, the airport is currently served by six scheduled passenger airlines with flights to sixteen destinations in the United States. Although there has always been some controversy about the airport and proposed expansions, more concerns have arisen as a result of passengers seeking relief from the long delays at the other New York airports. The most recent concerns have to do with flight paths and traffic congestion; the latter has been addressed by the County of Westchester with Bee-Line bus service to the airport and the encouragement of travelers to get rides to the airport.

The airport's environmental management practices are monitored through the AEMS, an ISO 14001 certified Airport Environmental Management System; airport employees receive environmental training. The facility was, in 2004, the third airport in the U.S. to achieve this level of environmental performance.

Also, due to its location near a number of residential neighborhoods, Westchester County Airport instituted a Voluntary Restraint from Flying Program, sometimes referred to as a voluntary curfew, which has helped to ease some of the local concern of noise resulting from airport activity. In an effort to alleviate concerns over expansion and noise, planning studies are done on a regular basis.

In May 2011 NYSDOT released the "New York Statewide Airport Economic Impact Study," quantifying the level of economic activity that was attributable to the aviation sector for the year 2009 in the State of New York. The study noted that HPN was one of only three airports in the state that gained emplanements, performing better than the U.S. benchmark. The study also noted that the total economic impact of the airport was approximately $736 million.

IATA code

The IATA code for Westchester County Airport is HPN. There is a debate in the origins of this code. Many believe that it is derived from the name of the city, White Plains (IATA codes normally do not begin with W because those are reserved for radio signals). Others believe the IATA code represents the first letter of the three neighboring communities, Harrison, Purchase, and North Castle. The full ICAO code for Westchester County Airport is KHPN.

Facilities and aircraft

Westchester County Airport covers 702 acres (284 ha) at an elevation of 439 feet (134 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 16/34 is 6,549 by 150 feet (1,996 x 46 m) and 11/29 is 4,451 by 150 feet (1,357 x 46 m). Runway 29's threshold is displaced 1,297 feet (395 m) due to trees obstructing the approach path. The trees (in Connecticut) are 37 ft (11 m) tall and 370 ft (113 m) from the end of the runway.

Westchester County Airport has several fixed-base operators (FBOs), including Signature Flight Support East and West, Landmark East and West, NetJets, and Million Air. Although varied in services offered, the FBOs at Westchester County Airport provide Jet A and 100LL fueling services, repairs and maintenance, aircraft tiedowns, de-icing, United States Customs, and other aircraft services. Some of the FBOs are particularly luxurious, providing limousine transportation services and deluxe surroundings.

There are three flight schools. Performance Flight operates out of the Million Air at Hangar M, while Academy of Aviation operates out of Landmark West at Hangar T. Wings Air offers helicopter flight training out of Hangar C-2. Additionally, the Westchester Flying Club, a private organization of pilots, is based at the airport as well as the Westchester Aviation Association, a not-for-profit organization which promotes aviation education and understanding on the part of government authorities and the public.

Westchester County Airport is also the home of the New York Wing Civil Air Patrol headquarters, the Lt. Anthony L. Willsea Cadet Squadron (NY-422).

Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) is provided by Airport Operations Crews. The airport owns three ARFF apparatus (three Oshkosh Striker 1500s), two of which are in service full-time. The ARFF Crews only respond to aircraft emergencies. All structure related fire and rescue calls go to the local fire departments. For example, the Purchase Fire Department handles all structure calls on the southern part of the airfield, the Armonk Fire Department handles calls on the northern part and the Rye Brook/Port Chester Fire Department handle all calls on the east end, including the main terminal. EMS calls are handled by Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook EMS, Harrison EMS and Armonk Fire/EMS depending on location of call.

In 2010 the airport had 191,017 total aircraft operations, an average of 523 per day: 23% commercial aviation, 48% heavy general aviation, and 29% light general aviation. There are 316 aircraft, including helicopters, based out of this airport.

Terminal

Westchester County Airport has one small three-level terminal with six gate spaces, of which only four may be used because only four aircraft may be scheduled to use the Terminal Ramp at any time. The $35 million terminal was built in 1995 and designed by Lothrop Associates. Gates C and F are the only gates that have jetways. The terminal also has one luggage carousel, one baggage reclaim office and two Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening lanes.

In November 2015, the airport began a $30 million construction project to expand the terminal and ramp areas. The project will expand the terminal by 20% and include additional check-in, screening and passenger waiting areas. The expansion will also include the addition of four new Jetbridges.

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