About a month after selecting the three fixed-base operators for John Wayne Airport, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has agreed on 35-year lease terms for two of the operators: ACI Jet and Clay Lacy Aviation.
Lease negations continue for the third company, Jay’s Aircraft Maintenance, which was chosen last month as a limited-service FBO; its primary difference from ACI and Clay Lacy is that it won’t offer charter operations.
The deal marks an end to Atlantic Aviation’s 17-year presence at the airport as an FBO, despite efforts by the firm to postpone the board’s vote.
ACI Jet is the newest FBO at John Wayne, taking over operations in 2017 for Signature Flight Support.
As part of the new lease agreements, scheduled charter carrier JSX, formerly JetSuiteX, will no longer be able to operate in the general aviation portion of the airport under a new provision that bans regularly scheduled commercial flight operations.
The FBO selection is expected to lead to nearly $150 million in new investments for the county-owned airport over the next eight or so years.
For more on the new operators and their plans for John Wayne Airport, see the Aug. 31 print story in the Business Journal.
