For those that fly into HEF..... DAI FBO is closing

wsuffa

wsuffa

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Bill S.
Must not have been a very profitable company or it would have sold vs closing.
 
Less competition, higher costs coming.
 
Clip4 said:
Must not have been a very profitable company or it would have sold vs closing.
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The franchise with the airport was coming up for renewal. Without that, there's no value. And if you sign it, there is no assurance that a buyer will accept the terms you agreed to. The structures (hangars) revert to airport ownership anyway.

From that standpoint, better to just let the potential buyer negotiate the new agreement and get what you can for the assets.

And yes, some of the profitability went away when the airport took over the T-Hangars instead of renewing the master lease. I'm sure the airport is just as happy about this as the master plan is to rework the west side of the airport.

Much more to the story than just profitability. I hope the airport doesn't runoff the EAA chapter, too.
 
The airport has no interest in having empty buildings. The new lease terms with the airport would have been negotiable with and transferable to the new owner prior to the sale, but if there is no money there to be made, no one wanted the company.
 
Clip4 said:
The airport has no interest in having empty buildings. The new lease terms with the airport would have been negotiable with and transferable to the new owner prior to the sale, but if there is no money there to be made, no one wanted the company.
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That first sentence may not be exactly true.

The plan for the airport has the DAI hangar(s) being torn down in a couple of years for "redevelopment" of the west side. That would require relocation of the business. The plan, when I last saw it, included an option to eliminate the west side FBO (DAI). So no, the new lease terms may not have been transferable, and may not have even been tenable. The airport, as I understand it, refused to renew the T-Hangar master franchises/leases and took them over. And the airport is looking at changing the fuel sales, which also would affect profitability (especially 100LL). Both of those would affect profitability, too. Given all of that, the owners may just have decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

It is not nearly as simple as you want to make it out to be. There's no question it's a business decision, but when dealing with a government franchise, it's not so simple as it sounds.
 
The airport crushed them. For what reason, I don't know. Power probably, or corruption.
 
weilke said:
The airport crushed them. For what reason, I don't know. Power probably, or corruption.
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I'm sure part of it is that they don't cater to the jet crowd the same way APP or ChantillyAir does/will.

There were rumors that someone was going to buy them, but I have no doubt that the airport would prefer to deal with the jet crowd.
 
wsuffa said:
That first sentence may not be exactly true.

The plan for the airport has the DAI hangar(s) being torn down in a couple of years for "redevelopment" of the west side. That would require relocation of the business. The plan, when I last saw it, included an option to eliminate the west side FBO (DAI). So no, the new lease terms may not have been transferable, and may not have even been tenable. The airport, as I understand it, refused to renew the T-Hangar master franchises/leases and took them over. And the airport is looking at changing the fuel sales, which also would affect profitability (especially 100LL). Both of those would affect profitability, too. Given all of that, the owners may just have decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

It is not nearly as simple as you want to make it out to be. There's no question it's a business decision, but when dealing with a government franchise, it's not so simple as it sounds.
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At local airport in my area had such a plan 20 years ago. Move hangars and FBO to make room for development. 20 years later none of was realized, old hangars are being demolished and new hangars built on the existing site.
 
one could surmise that the big jet guys forced them out.
 
I stopped by APP Jet on Thursday for a day of business in the area. I was in a Cardinal and it was my first visit to HEF. They treated me like a king!

There is a LOT of development going on around the airport. I hope the great service continues!

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Slipperhead said:
There is a LOT of development going on around the airport. I hope the great service continues!
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The airport will be gone in 15 years. The city of Manassas and PW county area closing in on the place in with residential development. Won't take long for some loon to sue that 'all those little aircraft are poisoning me with their lead they spew'.
 
weilke said:
The airport will be gone in 15 years. The city of Manassas and PW county area closing in on the place in with residential development. Won't take long for some loon to sue that 'all those little aircraft are poisoning me with their lead they spew'.
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Maybe, but most airports these days have acquired easements and deed restrictions.
 
weilke said:
The airport will be gone in 15 years. The city of Manassas and PW county area closing in on the place in with residential development. Won't take long for some loon to sue that 'all those little aircraft are poisoning me with their lead they spew'.
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Maybe, but it's a revenue generator for Manassas. They've got a number of contractors, businesses, and "black helicopters" operating out of there. They can - and do - capitalize on the lack of good alternatives: JYO has more residential nearby, IAD is expen$ive, Warrenton doesn't have the office space nearby, Stafford is a pain in the rear traffic-wise, and the Maryland airports are in a poor business climate. Much of that land around HEF is commercial, and the personal property tax on airplanes based there is pretty low. They may continue to push the FLIBs out in favor of jets, but I think it survives like ADS has.
 
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