The deadline for proposals to run New York’s Westchester County Airport (HPN) has been extended until July 28, at the request of several respondents. The county issued an RFP for the airport privatization effort in early April, after county executive Rob Astorino’s failed attempt last year to award the contract without contest to Oaktree Capital Management, which runs Puerto Rico’s San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport.
The deal, which offers a 40-year lease at the New York City-area business aviation hub, will require approval of 12 of the 17 county legislators, some of whom already publicly voiced their displeasure with the measure at a public rally held earlier this week.
The vote is expected to take place in September and if passed, it would make HPN the only privately operated airport in the mainland U.S. In 2000, New York’s Stewart International Airport was privatized under a 99-year lease. Its operator decided to leave the airport business seven years later and sold it to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.