Winner Aviation struggling in ‘tough times’
VIENNA — Rick Hale, president of Winner Aviation, says if his company doesn’t get help from the Western Reserve Port Authority soon, he may be forced to move the business out of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport along with its nearly 40 full-time and 20 part-time employees.
Winner provides fuel-handling, maintenance and storage for aircraft at the airport and leases three hangars there at a cost of $217,000 per year.
Hale says the company was forced to increase its rent from $69,000 to $217,000 in 2005 because of competition from another fuel-handler and service provider at the airport at the time, ReadyAir, and because the port authority was threatening to put the hangars out to bid.
In the past couple years, business has dropped off, causing profits to dry up, Hale said. He has talked to the port authority to negotiate a lower price, but those negotiations have been fruitless.
He is preparing to talk to other airports to see whether it makes sense to move his business to another airport. Hale said he doesn’t want to move the company but will “if I have to.”
Hale and Don Taylor, Winner operations manager, met with Trumbull County commissioners this month regarding the stalemate, but that hasn’t helped, either, Hale said.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said the port authority operates independently, so the only thing the commissioners have done is ask the port authority to meet with Winner to discuss some of the repairs that need to be made to Winner’s hangars.
John Masternick, port authority chairman, said “everybody’s facing tough times” because of the poor economy, and he understands that private aircraft such as the ones Winner services are among the first expenses to be cut in tough times.
“We’ve tried to ease some of their expenses, but something has gone awry,” he said. “We’ve tried to help them out, but we haven’t been able” to do so.
Masternick added the port authority and Winner have not had the best relations over the years, with the port authority saying Winner’s fuel prices have been high enough to hurt business at the airport, and Winner saying their price is necessary to break even.