A food vendor at Westchester County Airport is suing the county for allegedly using outdated marketing information to oust it from the airport.
Airport Mart Inc. is demanding that the county seek new contract proposals before awarding licenses to operate airport concession spaces, in a lawsuit filed on Jan. 13 in Westchester Supreme Court.
“This action seeks to hold the county to its obligations to conduct a fair, non-arbitrary [request for proposals] process,” the complaint states, “to ensure that all proposers are guaranteed a full and fair opportunity to provide the county with proposals.”
But County Attorney John M. Nonna stated in a brief telephone interview that Airport Mart has misconstrued how licenses are awarded. The contracting process has been “fair and transparent and legal,” he said, and Airport Mart “has been treated fairly.”
Airport Mart has been a fixture at the county airport since 2006. It runs a concession space on the landside, before the security checkpoint, and a restaurant on the airside past the checkpoint. The business is owned by Haifa Eljamal, according to the complaint, and is run by her son, Adam Musa.
(Her husband, Sammy Eljamal, claims in a December 2025 lawsuit that he owns 49% of Airport Mart.)
Airport Mart’s deal with the county expired in 2022, and since then it has operated on a month-to-month basis.
In 2023, the county solicited new proposals for vendor contracts, the complaint states, but for two years failed to award contracts.
Now, Airport Mart alleges, the county intends to award its spaces to SSP America, a Virginia company that has contracts at many airports.
Since 2023, Airport Mart says, its revenues have increased from $4.4 million to $9.4 million, and passenger traffic increased from 1.7 million to 2.3 million.
Yet, Airport Mart alleges, only SSP was allowed to update its 2023 proposal using current market data.
The county notified Airport Mart in a Jan. 2 letter that it would be given a new agreement for the restaurant space, according to the complaint, but if it did not accept the terms it would have to “peaceably surrender the restaurant location by Feb. 1.”
“The county appears to believe,” the complaint states, that it has “complete and unfettered discretion to award airport space however it sees fit.”
Nonna, the county attorney, disputed Airport Mart’s contentions in a Jan. 12 letter.
Airport Mart is not being ousted, Nonna said. The county is offering Airport Mart and the other vendors 5-year licenses.
The contract process is clear, he said. The county has the discretion to determine which proposal is most advantageous, and it offered Airport Mart opportunity to make a counteroffer.
