Blog
Westchester County Airport sits in White Plains, New York, a single-terminal airport that handles both commercial flights and private aviation. Its small scale changes almost everything about a trip through it, from where travelers park to how long security takes.
HPN airport parking costs $8.76 an hour in the main garage, with a $36.47 daily maximum. The garage sits directly across from the terminal, close enough that travelers wheel bags in on foot instead of waiting for a shuttle.
The Long-Term Lot sits farther out, down the access road, and runs $20.88 a day for parking longer than three days, a lower rate for anyone who needs a car waiting for more than a weekend.
These are the rates the county publishes directly, not an estimate pulled from a third-party parking app. Parking is only one part of the trip, so the rest of this guide covers security, dining, and what happens after dark.
Westchester County Airport runs on a single terminal building, three levels, around 96,000 square feet. Five airlines fly out of it: American, BermudAir, Breeze Airways, Delta, and JetBlue. The building’s footprint keeps the gate area walkable end to end, a different experience from switching terminals at a bigger New York airport.
The airport carried about 2.31 million passengers in 2025, a fraction of what JFK or Newark moved in the same period. That gap in passenger counts is part of why the building houses check-in, security, and every gate, unlike the separate buildings a larger facility would need.
The terminal also holds car rental counters, an ATM on the second floor near the escalator, and free Wi-Fi throughout. Atlantic Aviation and Million Air White Plains serve private aviation from their own ramps, separate from the commercial side.
TSA PreCheck has its own enrollment counter at Westchester County Airport, open weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the ground floor near baggage claim. CLEAR runs PreCheck enrollment from the same counter. Travelers who enroll there skip a separate appointment at another location entirely.
One checkpoint covers the entire terminal, sized for a passenger count in the low millions rather than the tens of millions larger hubs process each year. That’s a different setup than security at JFK or LaGuardia, where several checkpoints split a far larger crowd.
PreCheck and standard screening feed into that one checkpoint, so the main difference between the two lines is how officers screen each one, not a separate area entirely.
Food and drink come from a coffee counter, a bar, and one full-service restaurant with a view of the airfield, plus a few kiosks. Not all of them sit past the security checkpoint, so clearing security early can still mean fewer choices waiting on the other side.
County Executive Ken Jenkins has acknowledged the terminal isn’t equipped for “basic needs like having a cup of coffee,” and Legislator Nancy Barr has pointed to long-standing complaints about seating and food. The county has started a feasibility study for a larger terminal rebuild, a sign the current space is a known constraint, not a permanent one.
For now, eating before the checkpoint works more dependably than counting on something after it.
Westchester County Airport asks pilots to avoid flying between midnight and 6:30 a.m. under its Voluntary Restraint from Flying Program. It isn’t a mandatory curfew, just a request the airport repeats to any operator who flies during those hours, with any resulting noise complaint passed along after.
Most commercial departures and arrivals land well inside that overnight window anyway, so the program rarely touches a typical trip. It matters more for charter and private flights, which have more freedom over when they leave.
Bee-Line Route 12 stops on the island directly in front of the main terminal, the only public bus that reaches the airport.
Taxi service here works differently than hailing a cab on a street corner. The airport bans cruising for fares and flagging down empty taxis curbside, so arriving passengers call ahead to a company licensed by the Westchester County Taxi and Limousine Commission, or by one of a few nearby towns, and book the trip before they land rather than after.
Rideshare apps also serve the airport, and travelers request a car the same way they would anywhere else, skipping the advance call that taxis require.
Some travelers skip that phone call entirely and set up a trip that matches their flight time instead, especially on early departures or late arrivals when Route 12 isn’t running yet.
Westchester County Airport’s compact size is both an advantage and a limit. It’s why the garage sits a short walk from the curb, the gate area stays walkable, and PreCheck enrollment happens right there in the terminal. It’s also why the food options narrow past the checkpoint and only one bus route reaches the terminal.
That same trade-off runs through nearly every part of this guide, from parking to the curb out front.
Share this: