Million Air White Plains, a company that services corporate and private aircraft at Westchester County Airport, claims that the county has cost it $30 million by blocking construction of a new hangar, in a lawsuit that also implies that delays are motivated by electoral politics.
Westchester has “blocked Million Air at every turn with unreasonable and contractually impermissible obstacles,” the company claims in a June 16 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
County Executive George Latimer told Westfair reporter Peter Katz that he is confident that the county will get a fair hearing in court and will prevail.
Million Air began running a fixed base operation at the airport after the administration of the previous county executive, Rob Astorino, granted Million Air a 30-year lease in 2016 on 22.4 acres that included an outdated terminal and hangar at the airport.
The Houston- based company bills itself as an operator of luxurious aircraft facilities globally. Corporate and individually owned aircraft are stored in hangars, fueled, de-iced and maintained. Passengers and pilots are catered to in posh terminals.
The 2016 lease authorized Million Air to renovate and build new facilities. It has already spent $50 million on the terminal and a new hangar, according to the lawsuit, and it has proposed building more hangars, including replacement of an existing hangar.
The replacement hangar would create jobs, increase lease rental revenue for the county  and eliminate about 1,222 “ferry flights” where planes that drop off passengers at Westchester have to leave for other airports because of lack of hangar space at Westchester.
The lease requires the county to assist and cooperate with Million Air “in good faith,” the complaint states, in obtaining governmental approvals for new hangars.
In 2017, the company notified the Astorino administration that it wanted to replace the outdated hangar with a modern facility, for which it had already lined up prospective tenants and anticipated rents of more than $7 million a year.
The Astorino administration supported the plan, according to the lawsuit, but asked Million Air to hold off on a formal request until after Astorino”™s heated re-election campaign against Latimer concluded in the November 2017 election.
Latimer was aligned with Citizens for a Responsible County Airport, a group that opposed airport development, according to the complaint. And when Latimer won the election, he appointed a leader of the opposition group to his transition team.
After Latimer”™s election, the county has repeatedly denied Million Air”™s requests to replace the outdated hangar, according to the complaint, but has “never provided a reasonable basis for its decision.”
The county said the hangar is not required, for example, or that it is a new project that requires a new or amended lease.
The county allegedly told Million Air not to build a stormwater management system during the first phase of improvements, with the understanding that the system would be installed when the outdated hangar was replaced.
Months later, the county reversed course, the lawsuit states, and said it would not approve the replacement hangar until the stormwater system was installed.
When the Federal Aviation Administration rebuked the county for allowing construction without a stormwater system and environmental approval, the county allegedly blamed the regulatory failure on Million Air.
Million Air claims it has complied with county demands: drafting an amended lease, commissioning a study on the benefits of the replacement hangar, submitted voluminous environmental materials for regulatory approvals.
All to “no avail,” the complaint states. “The county has repeatedly moved the goal posts and continued to unreasonably deny approval of the plans.”
Million Air claims that the delays have cost it $30 million plus $175,000 for every week the county fails to honor the lease.
It accuses the county of breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. It is asking the court to order the county to approve the replacement hangar and pay at least $30 million in damages.
Million Air is represented by several White Plains attorneys with Yankwitt LLP and Cuddy & Feder LLP.
