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Winner Aviation has new airport contract
By ED RUNYAN
VIENNA
Winner Aviation, the company that provides fuel and other services to aircraft using the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, has negotiated a new contract with the airport that will save the company about $45,000 per year.
The company’s president, Rick Hale, went to Trumbull County commissioners in December after negotiations broke down earlier between Winner and the Western Reserve Port Authority, the board that runs the airport.
At the time, Hale said that if rent payments were not adjusted, Winner might be forced to relocate to another airport, taking its 40 full-time and 20 part-time employees with it.
In addition to selling fuel, Winner provides maintenance and storage services and leases three hangars from the port authority.
“Our hope is to see Winner grow the business, expand and be the best [airport service provider] in the state,” said Dan Dickten, the airport’s director of aviation.
The agreement, which went into effect Sunday, allows Winner to repay the port authority back rent of $60,000 in four consecutive payments starting in September. Twelve thousand more will be forgiven, Dickten said.
Winner now will pay the port authority $186,575 for use of the three hangars, compared with $231,905 before.
That figure was arrived at by adjusting various square-foot charges downward that were out of date. In other cases, fees were added that had not been charged in the past, Dickten said.
The new agreement is for two years but contains two five-year optional extensions.