His agency will help a New York airport add flights as the Big Apple's three big airports reduce congestion, the U. S. transportation secretary said on Friday.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at an airport meeting that transportation Department officials "will be full partners" in expanding air service at Stewart International Airport, an underused 2,400-acre facility in Newburgh, N. Y., 55 miles north of New York City.

The Poughkeepsie (N. Y.) Journal reported that federal funds appropriated or pending in Congress will support airport-growth projects, said LaHood, a former Republican House member from Illinois, declining to be specific.

He further said that his department will also talk with airlines and work with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Stewart as well as Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, to expand Stewart's service and relieve crowding and delays at the other city airports. (With Inputs from Agencies)