Westchester County has sent two stern letters to Million Air, accusing it of violating lease and license agreements with the County and demanding prompt action and responses.
Million Air is a private company that leases facilities at the airport (hangars, a terminal lounge, etc.) to serve its private and corporate clients. It currently is seeking approval - and has sued the county - to build a new 58,000 sq. ft. hangar designed for large private jets on the site of an existing hangar built with federal funding to serve light general aviation (mainly small propeller planes).
The Coalition to Prevent Westchester Airport Expansion
forcefully opposes this due to the great risk of expanding airport capacity and flights. Previously, Million Air was found to have built a previous hangar at the airport without securing mandatory environmental approvals, and it repurposed light GA hangar for storage and parking without the required authorization from the FAA, potentially exposing the county to liability and penalties.
The County's first letter, dated June 23, 2022, states that Million Air received a license to create "temporary" parking for a year around the light GA hangar, but that it agreed to promptly remove all vehicles and restore the area at expiration, which was February 28, 2020. Coalition leaders have verified that the parking remains (see image above taken in June, 2022) and now the County is looking to enforce the agreement. It demands that vehicles be removed immediately and that restoration work be completed by August 5th, 2022.
The County's action follows two meetings of the Westchester Airport Advisory Board (AAB) that focused on Million Air's proposed new hangar and its actions that have kept the existing hangar from serving small planes for several years. There reportedly is a backlog of requests for hangar space for small planes, and the AAB passed a resolution calling on the County to take action to immediately restore the existing hangar to use.
The County's second letter,
dated June 27, 2022, questions whether Million Air is subleasing space to Blade Urban Mobility (Blade) without "prior written consent" as required by its lease. Blade is one of several private airline operators suing the County over its efforts to enforce Westchester's Terminal Use Procedures (TUP) law, which requires that airlines use the main passenger terminal and abide by its capacity limitations as to the number of passengers and active gates per half-hour. This is the one of the county's only legal means of restraining airport traffic. Blade claims in its lawsuit that it's spending about $60,000 per year "to rent a dedicated lounge" at Million Air's facility. The County is demanding prompt information to clarify the relationship between Million Air and Blade.
The Coalition will continue to monitor developments, to press the County to hold Million Air and other airport operators to the rules, and to resist any airport expansion projects. We applaud the County for its action in sending these notices to Million Air, but we will also pursue answers to certain questions the letters raise, such as:
1. Why did the County agree to let Million Air use the space around the light GA hangar for temporary parking, and why did it not act promptly after the expiration of that agreement in 2020?
2. Why should private companies leasing airport facilities be permitted to host airlines in violation of the Terminal Use Procedures law, and what other unauthorized sublease arrangements might Million Air have?
Stay tuned for more, and please
write to your local officials
- the County, your local County Legislator, and your Town/Village leaders - to urge them to hold the line against Million Air and airport expansion.
