ReadyAir reports filing Ch. 11 bankruptcy

The company was dissatisfied with the common pleas court's decision.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- ReadyAir, a fuel handler and service provider at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh, the company announced Monday.
The company said the action and a federal lawsuit being planned are reactions to a hearing held in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court earlier this month, in which ReadyAir was ordered to put its rent payments to the airport in escrow with the county clerk of courts. A ReadyAir spokesman said those payments were not made by Monday's deadline.
"We will continue to serve our customers, offer all of the services that our customers have been able to benefit from, and further our programs for growth at [the airport] while we reorganize and develop our plan to emerge from this bankruptcy," said Robert Moosally, owner of ReadyAir.
"That plan will show that we will have the ability to deal with current obligations [and] repay loans to those that have supported our growth," he said.
Loan approved
Trumbull County commissioners approved a $200,000 loan to ReadyAir late last year. The company made only one of the five payments it owed since then. The payment amounts were for just under $2,000, Trumbull County Planning Director Alan Knapp said.
ReadyAir LLC filed its reorganization action in the bankruptcy court in Pittsburgh, Chad Quinn with ReadyAir said.
Moosally the reason for the federal lawsuit is that the company is dissatisfied with the March 8 decision by Judge John Stuard of Common Pleas court that ReadyAir should put back rent payments into escrow.
Federal involvement
Moosally said he believes the lawsuit filed by ReadyAir last year in the local court against the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the local airport, should be handled in federal court or put on hold until the Federal Aviation Administration completes an investigation at the airport.
That investigation began after ReadyAir complained to the FAA that the other fuel handler and service provider at the airport, Winner Aviation, gets preferential treatment.
runyan@vindy.com