MacArthur airport now officially an NYC airport

Long Island MacArthur Airport officials say they have overcome a major hurdle in positioning it as a hassle-free alternative to Kennedy and LaGuardia airports: The Federal Aviation Administration now lists MacArthur as a New York City airport.

That means, as travel websites are updated to reflect the change, MacArthur will appear in searches for airports serving New York City. The change could boost both commercial and private traffic at the airport, and could help MacArthur woo new airlines.

"This is a big breakthrough," airport commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said Tuesday. "It opens up great opportunities for us."

Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan wrote to the FAA in June, requesting a change in how the airport was listed in the FAA's Airport/Facility Directory for the Northeast United States. MacArthur, located in Ronkonkoma, had been listed for decades as an airport serving Islip Town.

Travelers to Kennedy and LaGuardia airports consider them to be "unreliable, time-consuming and frustrating while they remain unaware of the viable alternative in Long Island MacArthur airport," Nolan wrote.

MacArthur serves nearly 2 million passengers per year, and, because it uses different airspace than the major New York airports, does not experience the same flight delays.

The directory's latest edition, published on Jan. 13, lists MacArthur under New York, along with Kennedy, LaGuardia and the city's heliports and seaplane ports.

Islip Town, which manages the airport, launched a $300,000 marketing campaign for MacArthur in 2009, promoting the airport with the slogan: "We make flying a breeze."

The town has also worked with the Long Island Rail Road to incorporate the airport's name into railroad signs and schedules for the Ronkonkoma LIRR station, less than 2 miles from the airport. The goal: to position MacArthur as Long Island's regional airport, and attract customers from Suffolk and Eastern Nassau counties.

"This is not a little country airport," Nolan said, adding that the airport has the capacity to increase its daily flights from 30 to 80. "These other airports are bursting at the seams. Here we are. We're less than 50 miles from New York City."

Nolan said the FAA directory change could attract more customers looking to fly into the New York area, and as a result, attract new airlines.

MacArthur is currently served by Southwest Airlines and US Airways Express. Southwest sells tickets exclusively on its own website, so those tickets won't appear in searches on travel websites such as Expedia.

MacArthur's airport code will remain ISP.