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The battle of the billionaires

By Janice Wood · September 22, 2009 ·

A fight between two companies about FBO services at Van Nuys Airport (VNY) in Southern California is heating up.

According to a report at CNBC.com by Jane Wells, Rob Maguire, the billionaire who runs Maguire Aviation at the airport, is upset that a competitor, Castle & Cooke, has been running a “rogue” FBO operation for years.

The report quotes a memo Maguire wrote to LA city and airport officials:

“Our issue is simple: one bad apple at the world’s largest general aviation airport can spoil it for everyone,” Maguire writes. “This is not a battle between billionaires; it is about millions of dollars not going to the airport. This is not about fear of competition. This is about a public agency not taking a tenant’s lease violations seriously…costing the city and taxpayers millions in the process.”

About Janice Wood

Janice Wood is editor of General Aviation News.

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