43
Completion of airline sale could help launch daily air service at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport
By Ed Runyan
VIENNA
The sale of Aerodynamics Inc. to ADI Acquisition Co. closed Tuesday, possibly clearing the way for ADI, which runs SeaPort Airlines, to get the go-ahead to start daily air service at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
In a letter dated Wednesday but posted on the U.S. Department of Transportation website Thursday, an attorney for ADI notified the DOT that the sale to John and Janet Beardsley of Portland, Ore., whose company Janair LLC runs SeaPort Airlines, has been completed.
The voting trust with the Bank of Utah previously established by former ADI owner Scott Beale has been terminated, and all of ADI’s shares have been transferred to ADI Acquisition Co. LLC.
“In light of these significant developments ... ADI requests that the [DOT] expeditiously issue a letter determining that ADI is fit, willing and able ... and grant ADI’s application for scheduled certificate authority,” the letter says.
The DOT certificate of authority ADI seeks would allow the company to begin daily flights between the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport 10 times per week in a 50-passenger aircraft.
The flights would allow travelers to make connecting flights in Chicago to travel anywhere in the world, airport officials have said. They also are hoping to eventually attract an eastbond flight.
SeaPort has agreements with the major airlines at Chicago O’Hare that will allow efficient connections to those airlines, Dan Dickten, director of aviation at Youngstown, has said.
Dickten has said he expects an announcement soon regarding ADI service and that the service would begin in 30 to 45 days from an announcement by the DOT.
ADI first applied for a certificate to operate the Youngstown-Chicago service in June 2014, but the service hit a roadblock when the DOT learned of a finding by a federal judge that former ADI majority owner Beale committed fraud while soliciting investment funds from a former business partner in 2012.
Beale resigned as CEO, president and chairman of the ADI and its parent companies in January, and Darrell Richardson, an industry veteran, took over.
All of Beale’s ownership interest in Aviation Capital Partners, ADI’s holding company, was then placed into the Bank of Utah voting trust.
SeaPort is a regional airline based in Portland, Ore., that flies regional routes on the West Coast and in the Southeast and Central Southeast United States.
The port authority has been gearing up for the start of the Youngstown-Chicago service with marketing plans that are ready to be implemented as soon as DOT approval comes, Dickten said Friday.
The port authority committed $130,000 to ADI that the airline can use before the launch of the service. ADI also would use a $1.2 million revenue guarantee offered by the port authority to ensure it makes a profit of at least 5 percent during the startup phase of the service.
Allegiant, a Las Vegas-based airline, is the only major commercial airline in operation at the airport in Vienna. Service includes flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers, Fla.