CAA: GA News, "Virginia airport enjoying successes, its leaders report"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, November 6, 2002 

Chesapeake airport enjoying successes, its leaders report
By ROBERT MCCABE
The Virginian-Pilot


CHESAPEAKE -- Two weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration ruled
that Chesapeake's regional airport was being run as a virtual monopoly,
airport leaders came before the City Council on Tuesday night to relate
all the good things taking place there. 

The airfield's hangars, for example, are all rented, and three new
corporate hangars, big enough to handle small jets, are about to open
for business. 

One may be leased to Hall Auto Group, which could base a corporate jet
at Chesapeake -- its first. 

The full-occupancy rate in the hangars means the airport can make the
payments on its 1999 revenue bond issue of $2 million-plus. 

All the good news, however, is still overshadowed by the FAA's Oct. 22
ruling, which continues a March 2001 suspension of all federal funding
at the airport until the issues have been resolved. 
 
The dispute between Suffolk pilot Roger Leonard and the airport
authority culminated in the FAA's 53-page decision two weeks ago. 

The disagreement began over Leonard's request to park a couple of his
airplanes for rental at Chesapeake without having to set up a full-time
office there -- an arrangement Leonard said he had at both Norfolk
International Airport and Newport News/Williamsburg International
Airport. 

After three years of wrangling, the FAA finally ruled that while it was
OK for the airport to require Leonard to have an office, it went
overboard. 

The airport's excessive office requirements and staffing levels -- given
what Leonard wanted to do -- had the net result of protecting the only
business at the airfield from competition, the FAA ruled. 

``The Airport Authority has constructively granted Horizon Aviation
Services an exclusive right by imposing minimum standards that
discourage competition among commercial aeronautical services'' at
Chesapeake, the FAA stated. 

Horizon Aviation Services is a private firm contracted to provide basic
airport necessities such as pumping gas and providing maintenance. 

It is owned by John Beaulieu, the former airport manager. 

The FAA has given the airport authority 60 days to come up with some
less restrictive rules and to provide some legal reason why Leonard
should not be provided an office in the airport terminal. 

According to the FAA decision, with the exception of the airport
manager's office, Beaulieu's company ``continues to occupy the entire
terminal without a lease.'' 

Airport officials say they are working on meeting the FAA's
requirements. 

Leonard, meanwhile, says he is considering filing a lawsuit. 

Chesapeake Regional Airport is on West Road, just east of U.S. 17 in the
southern part of the city. 

Opened in the late 1970s, it was envisioned as an economic-development
plum for the city and has received about $13 million in federal, state
and local money. 

The city has given two loans to the airport -- one for $232,000 in 1992
and another, for $390,000 in 2000. 

Airport officials say they are in discussions so the loans could be
forgiven in exchange for giving the city a parcel of land at the
airfield. 

The Chesapeake Airport Authority is a nine-member board appointed by the
City Council to oversee the airfield. 

In the past two years, the airport has encountered its share of
turbulence, including a critical city audit alleging an array of
financial irregularities. 

Beaulieu has been replaced with a new manager, Joseph Love; Thomas Love
is now the authority chairman, succeeding William J. Hearring Sr. Joseph
Love and Thomas Love are not related. 

In two years, the City Council has more than doubled the airport's
annual operating budget, from about $136,000 a year to more than
$300,000 a year. 

In addition to Hall Auto Group, the other tenants lined up for the
airfield's new corporate hangars are Beaulieu and Leonard.


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