Does Newark Airport need another rail link from Manhattan? (Image: Newark Liberty International Airport)
Much of the coverage last week about the sudden departure of United CEO Jeff Smisek focused on possible collusion between Smisek and former New York-New Jersey Port Authority Chairman David Samson — something the federal government is investigating. The reports noted that United had revived a money-losing route between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina, a route that Samson had requested because he has a vacation home there.
But what was in it for United? Better, faster rail links to Wall Street.
With its big hub operation at Newark Airport, United would stand to gain a greater share of the lucrative business travel market from New York’s Financial District if travelers could simply hop a direct train from Wall Street to the airport — a much more attractive prospect than long and expensive taxi rides to LaGuardia or JFK. United’s west coast routes would especially benefit, since the airline is moving its premium p.s. transcon service from JFK to Newark in late October. The Wall Street-area PATH trains operate out of a big transportation hub incorporated into the new World Trade Center project.
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An editorial in NJ.com, a news website of the Newark Star-Ledger, prefaces its comments with all the usual cautions that nobody has been indicted and this is all speculation, it says that the Port Authority’s plan to spend $1.5 billion extending the local PATH trains to Newark Airport “seemed like a strange decision” since other projects should have taken priority. Following last week’s events at United, “there is reason to at least suspect that sinister motives may have been at work,” the editorial says.
The PATH train system (it stands for Port Authority Trans Hudson) is a network of underground commuter rail lines that link midtown and lower Manhattan to stations just across the Hudson River in New Jersey, extending as far as Penn Station in downtown Newark.
An extension of the PATH network to Newark Airport would mainly benefit riders from lower Manhattan, where the Financial District is based. In midtown Manhattan, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains already operate from Penn Station to the Newark Airport station.
NJ.com said some New Jersey Democratic legislators want to suspend funding for the PATH expansion project until more is known about the Port Authority-United business — something the editorial called “a prudent request.” A PATH extension to EWR would be used by about 7,000 people a day, while other infrastructure projects would benefit much larger numbers, the editorial said. It cited the need to build a long-overdue rail tunnel under the Hudson (something New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rejected a few years ago) and to expand the cramped Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, which serves 200,000 people a day.
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The headline made me think that the shareholders simply had enough for Smisek and used the smoke from the Bridge-gate investigation to toss him overboard. Delta and American are (on paper) being Ya-Nited senseless and pushing ever close to the end of deregulation.
But the potential for speedy rail connections (including high speed rail) at Newark can’t be dismissed. It could be a game-changer, but the beneficiary might not be United per se if American and Delta keep consolidating on the East Coast.
The big question for anyone to answer, with Smisek leaving is there any possibility of United getting any better? The folks running the airline have to know that most of it’s base hates the airlines, would they do anything to win us back???
Growing up in a Midwestern burb, there were times school districts need for classroom space. Yes, passing a bond issue ain’t easy, except double sessions at a high school or students being taught in double wide trailers do wear the voters down. So why can’t Wall Street companies buy the bonds for the $1.5 billion Path extension. Lets not forget that Boston Big Dig resulted in a taxpayer fund project that was way over budget, a boondoggle for local unions and the tunnel has leaks.
Yes, he would.
Just saying if Smisek is convicted of a crime with this bribery situation, would he lose his golden parachute?
Extending the NYCTA “7” line across the Hudson to the Meadowlands would definitely serve more people than a PATH extension to EWR… but there are too many tender toes at the Port Authority to allow anyone to usurp its local monopoly on interstate transit.
Samson was being greedy, Smisek ruined the airline more than it already was. We’re better off with both of them out.