REGIONAL AIRPORT ReadyAir is behind on loan, official says

A ReadyAir representative said the loan payments are 'in the works.'
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- ReadyAir, the fuel handler and service provider at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport at the center of much of the recent controversy at the facility, has failed to make most of its payments on a $200,000 county loan.
Alan Knapp, director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said ReadyAir has made only one of the four loan payments it owed since November. ReadyAir made its first loan payment of just under $2,000 in November but has not made payments in December, January or February, Knapp said.
In September, county commissioners approved the 3 percent loan for 10 years from the county Revolving Loan Fund so ReadyAir could make renovations to Hangar 2. The loan was designed to allow expansion at the facility and create 18 jobs within three years.
Knapp said the biggest part of the project was to replace the hangar's overhead sliding door. ReadyAir representative Chad Quinn said another part of the project is to replace the roof and patch holes in the floor. He said ReadyAir is waiting for good weather to begin the renovations.
Response
Quinn said Bob Moosally, owner of ReadyAir, has directed his staff to make two of the payments right away. "We're making those. They're in the works," Quinn said.
He added that the "climate of today" is a factor in the payments' not having been made. He added that he is surprised the payments are an issue. He said he thinks many of the companies that have received loans from the fund are behind on their payments. In reference to questions about the loan, he said "somebody's taking a shot" at ReadyAir.
Knapp said recent e-mails between him and ReadyAir indicated the company would "check into" the payments. He said that ReadyAir is still within its time frame for making the improvements to the facility but that he is concerned about the company's failure to pay.
Commissioner James Tsagaris, who said last week he would like to see the three commissioners withhold the county's bed tax money from the airport until questions are answered about the operation of the facility, says there is "no excuse for not making these payments."
The airport received $377,000 in bed tax money last year.
The two other commissioners, Dan Polivka and Paul Heltzel, said that they were not in favor of withholding funds from the airport at this time and that the announcement that low-cost airline Allegiant was set to begin flights in May required support from them and the community.
Seeking FAA probe
The Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to conduct an investigation of the airport by ReadyAir. The company contends it gets unfair treatment compared with Winner Aviation, the other fuel handler and service provider there.
ReadyAir was threatened with eviction last year because it had failed to make payments for rent and other fees and filed suit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to stop the eviction. ReadyAir said it was putting its rent payments in escrow until the port authority equalized treatment.
At last week's commissioners meeting, Tsagaris said his primary concern at the airport is the finances. "Four or five years ago I've been asking for the books from the airport, and I still haven't received them," Tsagaris said. "I'm not talking about ReadyAir. I'm talking about the airport."