Westchester County Airport

Westchester County Airport has a unique and interesting history. It was built shortly after World War II. It was not built as a public airport. It was built as a home for the Air National Guard, so that they could protect New York City. However, as there began to be more people living in the suburbs in this area of New York, the National Guard unit moved to Newburgh, to the Steward International Airport.

Thus, there was an empty airport. In 1947, the first passenger traffic was seen in Westchester County Airport. At this time, the airport was served by several local and regional airlines. These included Allegheny Airlines, Empire Airlines, and Command Airways. Shortly thereafter, the Airline Deregulation Act was passed, which led to the formations of the main national airlines. Therefore, there was a small amount of downtime within the airport, while the national airlines figured themselves out.

The Westchester County Airport underwent several renovations during this time. Gradually, smaller airlines began to come back to the airport. Currently, the airport is home to 8 airlines. There are 18 different destinations to which one can go from this airport.

The airport has a small amount of historical significance for one airline. On January 5th, 2006, the last flight for Independence Air left this airport at 7:26 PM, bound for Washington DC.

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Amongst people who know airports and call letters, there is a slight debate over where those for Westchester County Airport came from. Currently, the letters to represent this airport are HPN. It has, in fact, always been called HPN by the IATA, who is responsible for giving airports letter codes in order to distinguish them on the airwaves, and in other types of communications.

Some believe that these letters actually represent the town of White Plains. IATA codes cannot begin with the letter W, because letter W is reserved for radio signals with the IATA. Therefore, the H would represent the word "White" and the PN would represent the word "Plains".
However, there are other people who believe that HPN does not represent White Plains. They feel that this code represents the names of the three communities that are closest to this airport. These communities are Harrison, Purchase, and North Castle.

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The Westchester County Airport is a small airport, yet it is located in a busy place. The airport is actually only 9 miles away from White Plains. It is also only 33 miles away from Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

Therefore, the airport is used by many people in the area. It serves the people who live in Westchester, which is a county in New York. It also serves suburban counties of New York City, and Fairfield County, which is in Connecticut. To a lesser degree, the airport serves some people from New York City's metropolitan area. This is because of the proximity to New York. Many people use it in order to avoid the airports in New York City because of congestion.

For these reasons, the Westchester County Airport is extremely easy to get to. Although it is a small airport, taxi drivers in all of the above mentioned counties understand exactly how to get there in the fastest way possible. It is also served by bus routes in all of the mentioned counties, plus a few more. One can take a bus from Manhattan, from several other areas in New York City, or from smaller towns in New York or Connecticut.

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The Westchester County Airport is quite a small airport. It is made up of only one terminal. This is a small terminal that is three levels. In the airport, there are only actually six gates. Because of the layout of the terminal, only four gates can be used at the same time. Also, only two of the gates actually have jet ways.

The layout of the airport is quite simple. On the first floor, there is one luggage carousel and one baggage claim office. On the second floor, one may find the six gates, a small amount of amenities, and only three TSA screening lanes. On the third floor there is an observation deck.

The airport is extremely easy to navigate because of its size and layout. In fact, it is so small that there are often delays. Some of the airlines have ways to work out these problems. For instance, Jetblue has an extra set of stairs and ramps. This means that they can put people on their airplanes from the front (in the terminal) and from the back (outside) at the same time. They do this in order to make sure that their own flights are not delayed. However, no other airline uses these stairs, as they belong to JetBlue. Therefore, other airlines have delays due to the small space.

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In January of 2007, Jet Blue Airways became the 8th airline to fly out of Westchester County Airport. JetBlue joined 7 other airlines when it started service in March of 2007. Therefore, the airport can get quite crowed.

Air Canada flies out of Westchester County Airport. They are operated by Air Georgian. As well, AirTran Airways flies out of the airport. American Airlines also uses this airport, and this includes American Eagle flights. Also, Continental, with Continental Connection travels from Westchester.

Delta is the largest carrier out of this airport. They have three different flights, which are Delta Connections flights. These are operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Comair, and Shuttle America. Northwest, along with Northwest Airline, and United, along with United Express, join US Airways to make up the last of the airlines that operate flights from Westchester County Airport.

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Although there are only 8 airlines that leave from the airport, there are actually quite a few destinations to which someone can go from Westchester. In fact, there are 18 destinations.

JetBlue flies A320 and Embraer aircraft from White Plains to four destinations in Florida. These destinations are Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, and Fort Meyers. Therefore, one can easily get to Florida from the Westchester airport.

The other destinations also include an international flight. This is because Air Canada takes passengers to Toronto-Pearson. AirTran Airways operates flights to Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Meyers, Orlando, and West Palm Beach. American Airlines flies to Chicago. Also, Continental Airlines flies to Cleveland.

On Delta flights, one can get from the Westchester Airport to one of three locations. These are Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Northern Kentucky. With Northwest Airlines, one can get to Detroit or Minneapolis/St. Paul. If one was to fly on United Airlines, they could get to Washington-Dulles or Chicago. With US Airways, a passenger could get to Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington DC, or Boston.

Although this airport is small, it is evidently a very important airport because of the possible destinations to which one might fly. Therefore, the airport has had national notoriety. It has been mentioned in several movies and TV Shows as well. This makes the airport one that many people in the United States will recognize, even if they have not been there.

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The size of the Westchester County Airport does not allow for many different businesses. However, this is not to say that there are no businesses there. On the second level of the airport, one might find a coffee shop. There is also a bar and a restaurant. These both have views of the tarmac and runway, so that one might sit and watch other flights take off. There is also an eatery called the Skytop Restaurant. This eatery also has a view of the runway.

The third floor contains an outside observation deck, which is almost like a business in its own right. It is always very popular, as one is able to sit outside and watch the flights arrive and depart. This is a luxury that is not affordable at most of the other airports in the United States, due to increased security at larger airports.

The only actual store in the airport, aside from the restaurants and bar, is a small candy bodega. This is located on the first floor of the airport. At this store, one can find several items that are good for last minute shopping before one gets on their plane. Therefore, this is a very useful store to visit, although it is small.

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The size of the Westchester County Airport does not allow for many services. However, there are a number of ATMs that are inside of the terminal building. These can provide a passenger with the cash that they might need.

The airport is also home to several services. In fact, there are several Fixed Based Operators that work out of this airport. These include Avitat, Landmark, Signature Flight Support, NetJets, Million Air, and Panorama. These small and private airlines use the airport, and can be of use to passengers, as long as they contact the office. Also, Million Air and Panorama operate flight schools out of this airport. Thus, one could actually take flying lessons from this airport.

The other services at the airport do not pertain to passengers. These are services that are offered by the Fixed Based Operations, and are for other airlines. They include fueling services, repair services, and maintenance, among other things for airlines. A few of the FBOs do provide some passenger support, however this is for passengers of their own airlines. These include luxury services, such as limousine transportation. The luxury services, although intended for the FBO airlines, are often contracted by the major airlines in order to help them care for their passengers.

On all three floors of the airport, there are bathroom facilities. Also, there is an information and help desk located on the first floor. Here, one can ask for any other services that they might be in need of.

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A passenger should not be fooled by the small size of the airport, or by the fact that there is still an outside observation deck. Even with these two factors, the security at the Westchester County Airport is very tight. This is because of the location of the airport.

The airport is located in a very central part of the New York City and State territory. This means that from the Westchester County Airport, one could do damage to other airports or to surrounding areas. Therefore, the highest security measures are in place at this airport.

Although there are only three TSA security screeners, these are constantly in use. Therefore, the lines at the airport might be long. Passengers are urged to arrive early. This is because each passenger is screened very carefully before being allowed to board any flights out of the Westchester County Airport. The baggage is all carefully screened as well.

In the past, the airport has seen famous travelers. Often, there are passengers who use the Westchester County Airport who need extra security. This is provided by police from the county, as well as police from White Plains. If needed, police from other towns can also be used.

All of these factors work together to provide the Westchester County Airport, which is very small, with very tight security. One can fly in and out of this airport in confidence. Thus, it is a very safe airport from which to travel.

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