CAA: GA News, "FAA rules Chesapeake airport must make changes"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, October 24, 2002 

FAA rules Chesapeake airport must make changes
Minimum standards judged discriminatory
By ROBERT MCCABE
The Virginian-Pilot


CHESAPEAKE -- The Federal Aviation Administration ruled Tuesday that the
Chesapeake Airport Authority violated federal law and conditions for the
airport's federal funding by allowing it to operate as a virtual
monopoly. 

``We find that the Chesapeake Airport Authority, by establishing
unreasonable terms as a condition for access to the airport, has
effectively limited competition,'' said a letter from David Bennett, the
FAA's director of airport safety and standards, to Roger Leonard, the
Suffolk pilot who filed the complaint, and the authority's attorneys. 

 It states that the airport authority gave Horizon Aviation Services,
owned by former airport manager John Beaulieu, an ``exclusive right'' by
imposing unreasonable terms ``that discourage competition among
commercial aeronautical service providers'' at the airport. 

Joseph E. Love, the current airport manager, said officials there intend
to make whatever adjustments the FAA deems necessary and to get on with
business. ``We think the changes that they're asking us to make are
relatively minor, and we look forward to a final resolution as quickly
as possible,'' Love said. He added, however, that the airport
authority's Washington-based law firm is reviewing the decision and has
30 days to file an appeal. 

Leonard, who sat on the airport authority board in the mid-1990s, said
he feels vindicated by the FAA's ruling. 
 
``After three years of effort to get a fair shake from the Chesapeake
Airport Authority and the city of Chesapeake, it appears this response
from the FAA clearly points to the troubled nature of this
organization,'' he said. 

Chesapeake Regional Airport sits just east of U.S. 17 in the southern
part of the city and has received about $13 million in federal, state
and local money since it opened in the late 1970s. 

The Chesapeake Airport Authority, a nine-member board appointed by the
City Council, oversees the airport. 

Airport officials recently announced that all of the airfield's 60-plus
hangars are occupied and that three new corporate hangars are on the
verge of being leased. 

Beaulieu's company, however, remains the only commercial operation at
Chesapeake Regional Airport. 

Beaulieu and Leonard, along with Hall Auto Group, are the three parties
negotiating for the newly completed corporate hangars, Love said. 

The FAA's decision means the airport cannot get any more federal funding
until Leonard's legal complaint is resolved, though that has been the
case since it was formalized more than a year ago. 

``The ban for Chesapeake is not permanent, and it can be reversed
relatively quickly,'' said Marcia Adams, an FAA spokeswoman in
Washington. 

With a leaner state budget, in which airport funding has already been
cut, the continued funding freeze cannot be good news for airport
officials. 

On the line this year is roughly $150,000 in federal funds. That money
is in limbo until the case is resolved. 

The FAA's ruling is the culmination of a long disagreement between
Leonard and the airport authority over his wish to park two rental
airplanes at the airport without maintaining an office there. 

Leonard, who owns a pilot shop at Suffolk Municipal Airport, said he had
a similar arrangement at Norfolk International Airport and at Newport
News/Williamsburg International Airport. 

Chesapeake officials, however, said their rules required Leonard to
maintain an office at the field. But there was a catch -- there was no
office, at least initially. 

Leonard complained to the FAA in the fall of 1999, which ordered the
airport to change its rules, the first steps in the long legal process
capped by the decision Tuesday. 

While the matter may seem like small potatoes to some, the FAA's
consideration of Leonard's case gave it some legitimacy and helped turn
up the lights on a quiet little corner of city business some had never
known existed. 

In the months that followed, city auditors were directed to examine the
records at the airfield. 

A preliminary report released by the Department of Audit Services in
March 2001 found an array of financial irregularities, including a
potential conflict of interest if Beaulieu continued to wear ``two
hats'' -- one as airport manager, the other as principal of the firm
hired to do aircraft maintenance and pump gas.The airport authority
chose not to renew Beaulieu's management contract in April 2001, though
his private company continues to operate at the airport as the sole
provider of aviation services. 

William J. Hearring Sr. stepped down as airport authority chairman in
September 2001 and resigned altogether from the board last June. 

Love was named manager in June 2001. 

Thomas Love, who is not related to Joseph Love, became chairman in
September 2001.


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