CEO shakeup at airline hoping to fly from Youngstown to Chicago

VIENNA

Aerodynamics Inc.of Atlanta, the airline that has proposed starting daily flights between the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, has named a new CEO, president and chairman of the board.

F. Darrell Richardson, who has 45 years of experience in the airline industry, will take over the company, which primarily operates in the airline shuttle business, according to an ADI news release.

He takes over for Scott Beale, former CEO, who the U.S. Department of Transportation said owns 80 percent of ADI.

The change in leadership comes after the announcement by the DOT last week that the airline was not “fit” to begin daily flights from Youngstown or to continue its existing shuttle services because it doesn’t have the “managerial competency” nor the “proper compliance disposition and regard for the laws and regulations governing its services.”

The ruling was deemed “tentative” until after a 14-day appeal period.

The DOT said one of its biggest concerns was the outcome of a civil suit against Beale and ADI that resulted in a finding by a federal judge last year that Beale committed fraud while soliciting funds from a former business partner.

Read more about the situation in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.