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madsheb OP t1_ir02nvp wrote
New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia once refused to get off a plane at the Newark airport in 1934, complaining that his TWA ticket from Chicago listed New York as the destination, not New Jersey.
He demanded the plane be flown to a New York City airfield.
The slights New Jerseyites endure at the hands of New Yorkers are unending. For one, cars heading into the Big Apple have to pay as much as $16 for a bridge or tunnel toll. For New Jersey-bound traffic it’s Please go, no charge.
Two new grievances have surfaced. The Newark, N.J., airport is losing its New York City designation by the International Air Transport Association. And the Justice Department snubbed Newark in an antitrust case related to the New York City air-travel market.
They are small slights but carry a lot of baggage.
“Of course it’s a New York City airport. It’s a regional economy,” said Joe Cryan, a Democratic state senator. His district includes part of Newark Liberty International Airport, which frequent fliers know as one of three main landing spots for travel to New York City.
Excluding Newark from the ranks of New York City airports, he said, is “either arrogant or dumb.” Look at the New York Giants and New York Jets, Mr. Cryan said, the two NFL teams that share a home stadium—in New Jersey.
“You can see the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building from Newark,” said former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. The airport is about a dozen miles by car from downtown Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel.
When the Newark airport opened in 1928, it was the New York area’s first major airport, according to its operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is controlled by the two states. It has been a source of turbulence ever since.
madsheb OP t1_ir02r20 wrote
The same year Mayor La Guardia declined to set foot from the plane in Newark, he reportedly said a New York City airport—later named after him—would free the city from the “humiliating position of seeing all its passengers and mail traffic go to a nearby state.”
In the 1990s, Gordon Bethune, then-chief executive of Continental Airlines, made it his mission to get New Yorkers to embrace the Newark airport as their own. At various points, it pitched itself as the “official airline” of Broadway and the New York Yankees.
Continental plastered New York City with advertisements. “Need to feel like a real New Yorker? Eat a bagel on your way to Newark,’’ one read. Another asked, “What do you call someone going to JFK? Late.”
Rudolph Giuliani, New York’s mayor at the time, demanded in 1997 that the airline kill the ads and threatened a boycott. He couldn’t be reached for comment. The airline eventually toned down the ads.
In the 1990s, Continental Airlines touted the Newark airport in an ad campaign that drew fire from the New York mayor.
“We did mention the fact that you didn’t need a passport to cross the river,” Mr. Bethune recalled during a recent interview.
In 2002, Mr. McGreevey and George Pataki, governor of New York at the time, proposed renaming the hub Liberty International Airport at Newark in honor of the 9/11 victims.
Then-Newark Mayor Sharpe James insisted the airport keep Newark more prominent in the new name. Mr. James said he threatened to dispatch a fleet of garbage trucks to create a traffic jam at the airport every day unless his demand was met.
“I’m putting gas in them while we talk,” Mr. James recalled telling Mr. McGreevey, who said he didn’t remember the threat.
bigjoe13 t1_ir44zd5 wrote
Sharpe James is about to cause a traffic jam, no body bats an eye. Chris Christie has his folks run a traffic study and everyone loses their minds!
Interesting-Fish6065 t1_iudd7a4 wrote
At least Sharpe James was honest about what he was doing and why.
madsheb OP t1_ir02vhy wrote
Other U.S. airports identify with places where they aren’t located. San Francisco International Airport is in another county. The Providence, R.I., airport is in Warwick, R.I. Cincinnati’s airport isn’t even in Ohio. It’s in Kentucky.
Newark is being dropped from the group of airlines that share the New York City code for technical reasons by the International Air Transport Association. The change, slated for April, should be largely invisible to consumers. Travelers will still see Newark as an option when they search for flights to New York.
The Justice Department doesn’t consider the Newark hub one of the New York City airports for domestic travelers, according to an unrelated antitrust trial under way in Boston. The government has a case against a planned partnership in the northeast between American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp.
Both airlines operate out at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports in the New York City borough of Queens. The government claims that by joining forces, the two companies will limit competition in New York.
The Justice Department said the New Jersey airport serves a different customer and should be considered a “distinct endpoint” for U.S. fliers.
The two airlines argue the omission paints a skewed and inaccurate picture of the New York air-travel market.
On Wednesday, the debate triggered a minor courtroom drama. A Justice Department lawyer quizzed JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes about a 2020 presentation that touted the airline’s position as New York’s second largest carrier by domestic capacity. The claim didn’t include the Newark airport, which would have dropped JetBlue lower on the list.
“With hindsight, we should have included Newark,” Mr. Hayes said.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Mr. Hayes testified that JetBlue customers see Newark as a New York airport. “Everyone in New York I believe understands that,” he said.
That may be, but a lot of airline passengers aren’t happy going through Newark. A J.D. Power Survey this year ranked the airport lowest in customer satisfaction among major North American hubs. The survey was done before the completion of renovations there.
“You can get in and out of Newark airport better than you can get in and out of any New York airport,” said Mr. James, the former mayor. “If anyone wants to debate me on that, I’ll take all comers.”
Emily_Postal t1_ir2a5ou wrote
The Port Authority of NY/NJ is a regional authority. It administers the interstate bridges and tunnels as well.
This makes it more difficult for consumers to price air travel to/from the region and hence more expensive.
SyndicalistCPA t1_ir18xhn wrote
Do people really care? Newark Airport is just fine. Rather Newark airport than JFK, for sure.
Nwk_NJ t1_ir26nvr wrote
As I said when this qas posted previously, this harms Newark and is a slight, not a compliment.
poete_idris t1_ir3kjz2 wrote
What does “qas” mean
Nwk_NJ t1_ir3llz0 wrote
You're a poet...perhaps you might know how to utilize context clues in order to ascertain the intent behind a typo.
Perhaps not.
poete_idris t1_ir3lr40 wrote
Bro relax I was just trying to understand your comment because I thought it was an unfamiliar acronym. You sassy as hell for no reason lol
Nwk_NJ t1_ir3mkjz wrote
Touche
di11ettante t1_ir4a2z4 wrote
New Jerseyites? Really, WSJ?
66nexus t1_ir2ennu wrote
I keep reading that 'everyone knows it as a NY airport'. But every family member and friend living in Manhattan, Queens, Bx, SI never ever consider it as such (and, of course, they go at lengths to remind just how 'in Jersey' it really is).
I know it's shared airspace, it's just annoying when the language gets pushed as if NY somehow owns the damn thing. Maybe easy for me to say since I'm on this side, but there's a lot of crying about consequences we haven't even realized yet (if they ever occur).
thatGUY2220 t1_irdjles wrote
We come off as very provincial and insecure with all this inferiority complex stuff about New York v New Jersey.
We are a segment of the NYC market but definitely it’s distinct from the other two airports. JFK & LGA are both located inside New York City limits. If they want to carry that mantle fine by me.
sutisuc t1_ir0hf2i wrote
New jerseyans*