Jan. 22—PORTSMOUTH — Port City Air is protesting that a potential competitor at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease is being fast-tracked for approval, gaining an unfair advantage in bidding for upcoming lucrative military fueling contracts.
Million Air Aviation, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, has the backing of Paul Brean, executive director of the Pease Development Authority (PDA), which oversees the airport. In a memo to the board at its meeting Thursday morning, Brean said Million Air Portsmouth's application has met what are called the "minimum standards and requirements" to qualify as a fixed base operator (FBO) at the airport.
But Port City Air, the one existing FBO at Pease located at 104 Grafton Road, objects, saying in a memo to the PDA board of directors that it is not receiving what it called "equal protection" if Million Air Portsmouth receives approval as an FBO in a manner different from Port City Air's original approval.
"What's the rush?" asked Port City Air founder and president Robert Jesurum. "Why is this being made so easy for them?"
During a Zoom video conference meeting on Thursday morning, the PDA board of directors voted to postpone its consideration for approval until its March meeting.
Port City Air argued in writing and in person during the Zoom session that the approval process is being rushed so Million Air can have operational status even before it breaks ground. It said the PDA was potentially violating certain rules relating to the Open Meeting Law and regulatory review by the Federal Aviation Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
Million Air countered that its documentation "clearly meets those standards" to obtain operational status as an FBO.
" Million Air wants FBO status to pump fuel far earlier in its application process than Port City Air was allowed, and without meeting the Minimum Standards, so it can bid on a military fuel contract," Port City Air said in its memo to the board. Those contracts come up for renewal this spring, according to Jesurum.
An FBO provides refueling, baggage handling, maintenance and other aeronautic-related services at an airport. Port City Air, as the only FBO at Pease, provides these services for the commercial passenger flights of Allegiant, as well as for private planes and for transient military-related flights, such as the planes carrying troops to and from overseas deployments.
According to Port City Air, the military flights account for more than 76 percent of the annual fuel pumped at the airport.
" Port City Air has captured significant market share by offering exceptional service and investing far beyond the Minimum Standards to provide the fast, efficient, and concierge-level service that earns repeat business," the company said in its memo. " Port City Air's efforts benefit the PDA and the Seacoast economy." Part of the PDA's revenue comes from a 2 cent a gallon surcharge on fuel pumped at the airport.
Million Air proposes to lease 53 Exeter St. and build a 22,000-square-foot building for hangar space, offices, and customer services. Its operation would include an aircraft parking and tie-down apron, fuel farm, fuel truck parking, employee and customer parking, and an outdoor area that could include service by a Starbucks and local food trucks.
Details of its proposal were first presented to the board at the November 2020 monthly meeting. Consideration was tabled to January, pending a review by the PDA's technical staff. The PDA's Aviation Committee approved the application earlier in January.
Port City Air argues its process to get FBO status and have its fuel farm approved took much longer. "While Port City Air fully supports and respects the PDA's review process, it is unfair and inequitable for the PDA to grant Million Air FBO or 'operational status' on a faster and more expedited timetable than the PDA offered Port City Air even to improve existing facilities," it said.
"These proceedings have been at best rushed," said Port City Air CEO Ned Denney. "There seems to be a sense of urgency to push this process forward with no public input or constituency input."
Roger Woolsey, CEO of Million Air, countered that Million Air is "a quality group that is really interested in promoting in our absolute best light the Portsmouth airport and the community."
As the third largest FBO in the world, according to Woolsey, Million Air currently has FOB services for civilian, military and corporate aircraft in such locations as Albany, NY, Austin, TX, Burbank, CA, Indianapolis, IN, Orlando, FL, and Rome, NY, to name but a few. Much like Pease, Rome is the site of a former Strategic Air Command base, Griffis Air Force Base, that closed in 1995.
Pease Air Force Base closed in 1991, its land turned over as a tradeport for aeronautic and commercial-industrial development overseen by the PDA.
Woolsey challenged the characterization of the process as being somehow illegal.
"I did hear the other speakers before bring up interesting words like 'dangerous' and 'illegal' and none of those things are the case," he said. "It is very simple: There is a minimum set of standards published; Million Air clearly meets every single one of those minimum standards in our application."
The vote to postpone until a later meeting was unanimous among the seven members.
PDA chair Kevin Smith, the town manager in Londonderry, took issue with comments that the process of reviewing the Million Air proposal is flawed.
"I don't agree with that. I don't think it has been rushed, and I don't think the staff has flawed in this," he said. "I don't want these postponements to be taken as being in agreement with those comments. Rather I think the board is doing its due diligence and being prudent in the way it's acting and making sure it's properly reviewed all of the materials."
Board member Steve Fournier, the Newmarket town manager, took exception to a comment that the public right to know through the Open Meeting Law wasn't being followed.
"I've seen nothing that has been a violation of the right to know law," he said.
The board struggled at times with the Zoom connection dropping and garbling the audio and video. The board suspended what was left of its meeting because of the technical difficulties with the hope of rescheduling later this month.
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