Hudson Valley gets another discount boost

Stewart International Airport in New York's Hudson Valley is undergoing something of a low-cost airline boom at the moment, as JetBlue Airways became the second such carrier this month to announce it will begin flying there.

New York Senator Charles Schumer made the announcement yesterday (Tuesday, October 24). The low-cost flier will begin service on December 19 offering one daily nonstop flight each to the Florida resorts of Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

Frequencies will increase in the New Year, Schumer said, as JetBlue will add an extra daily flight to each of the above Sunshine State cities, plus another daily nonstopper to West Palm Beach.

The Orlando- and Fort Lauderdale-bound JetBlue flights will be in direct competition with those of rival airline AirTran Airways, which also announced it would begin flying between Florida and the Newburgh airfield from January (see Swift service to SWF: AirTran heads for the Hudson Valley ).

Locals praised the announcement, saying that another low-cost airline in the region would do wonders to boost competition and therefore drive down fares.

Stewart is already home to flights operated by Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and US Airways.

© Adfero Ltd