In an effort to assist its airline partners to get through a difficult period, the Port Authority recently approved an incentive program at Stewart International Airport. The incentive will be available for the next six months and will be applied to fees and rentals that airlines normally would have paid for aircraft to land, park and utilize terminal facilities.

Since acquiring the airport in November 2007, the Port Authority has made customer-focused improvements, including access improvements from the highway, new parking spaces and new seats. Additional enhancements will be made as part of a 10-year $500 million capital plan for the airport.

Airlines interested in learning more about the program should contact airservice@panynj.gov.

The Port Authority will be making $68 million worth of vital investments to increase capacity at John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International. The announcement comes shortly after the Port Authority reconvened the Flight Delay Task Force, a high-level group of influential stakeholders in the aviation industry who produced more than 100 recommendations to reduce delays, increase safety and improve customer service.

The Port Authority’s investments at JFK and Newark Liberty will make runways and taxiways more efficient, locate aircraft on the ground more closely and allow greater use of the largest passenger and cargo planes.

Ushering in a new era in air travel, Kennedy International Airport on August 1 welcomed more than 500 passengers and crew when Emirates Airline Flight 3801 from Dubai completed its first U.S. scheduled flight of the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft.

The airport was prepared for the arrival, thanks to a $179 million improvement program that included infrastructure modifications: strengthening four taxiway bridges and runway pavement to handle the heavier planes, and relocating a taxiway to enable the wider-body aircraft to maneuver safely and efficiently.

Since 2004, the number of annual passengers at JFK has increased by more than 43 percent, to 48.2 million. The A380 and other new large aircraft will help meet existing and anticipated demand for flights at the airport. Current projections call for the airport to handle almost 60 million passengers a year by 2017.

JFK's Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 are each equipped to handle large aircraft like the A380. Several other airlines are expected to enter new large aircraft into service at JFK over the next 18 months.