April 8th, 2025
– The Town of Islip today announced a plan for private investment at Long Island MacArthur Airport including a terminal and direct connection to the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma Station. The Town plans to create a state-of-the art, comfortable, and modern terminal with a direct connection to the Ronkonkoma Station that will increase passenger traffic at Long Island MacArthur Airport, benefit local residents, and provide a better customer experience. The plan will provide the New York region’s only single-seat plane-to-train connection to either Grand Central or Penn Stations in midtown Manhattan.“Long Island MacArthur Airport has the opportunity to become a more viable, convenient and affordable option for air travel in the region,” said Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter in announcing the plan for a privately financed, built, and operated terminal at one of two sites at MacArthur Airport. “We are going to ensure that it can grow Long Island to provide more travel destinations for the current and next generation of travelers. We will do so while preserving the hometown appeal and convenience that will make MacArthur Airport the envy of the region,” said Supervisor Carpenter.
The private developer will have two terminal options to evaluate – either on the property adjacent to the Ronkonkoma Station or on the site of the existing terminal on the south side of MacArthur Airport. Notwithstanding the site, the developer will be required to provide a convenient, direct connection to Ronkonkoma Station. The Town will retain ownership and responsibility for MacArthur Airport operations.
“In partnership with the private sector, the terminal project will create high-paying jobs, spark huge economic opportunity, and make Islip even more attractive for sustainable business development that will help keep our highly educated workforce here for future generations,” Supervisor Carpenter commented in announcing the program.
In 2024, Long Island MacArthur Airport, known by its airport code as ISP, served almost 1.3 million passengers on four commercial carriers: Southwest, Frontier, JetBlue, and Breeze. JetBlue began service to ISP in 2024 and announced additional service to a fourth destination in 2025. Avelo Airlines’ recent announcement of new service to three destinations from ISP beginning in May 2025 will make Avelo the fifth commercial carrier at MacArthur Airport and bring to 18 the total non-stop destinations from ISP. Ten years ago, MacArthur Airport had only two airlines serving six destinations.
Airports throughout the United States and the world have seen the advantages of partnering with the private sector in developing modern, customer-friendly terminals. The success of private investment projects at both large airports like LaGuardia and JFK and smaller airports like Seattle’s Paine Field and Tweed-New Haven Airport demonstrate the value of these opportunities.
The Town formally issued a Request for Qualifications for private developers today. The RFQ is available at www.ispterminal.com.