ADI Closer to New Ownership, Airport Service
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The deal for new owners to acquire Aerodynamics Inc. is expected to be completed this month, the company has told the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Attorneys for ADI, which is seeking to establish daily service between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township, updated Lauralyn Remo, chief of U.S. DO.T’s Air Carrier Fitness Division, on its efforts to find a new owner.
On May 6, ADI Acquisition Co. LLC, an Oregon limited liability company, entered into a stock purchase agreement with former ADI executive Scott Beale to acquire 100% of ADI, according to the ADI attorneys’ letter to Reno.
The June 25 letter to Remo was posted Monday to the federal docket.
ADI Acquisition is owned equally by John and Janet Beardlsey, who also own 80% of the voting interests in SeaPort Airlines through a holding company, JANAIR LLC.
ADI’s acquisition is expected to close this month. “In light of this important and positive development,” along with additional information contained in the filing, ADI urged DOT to “expeditiously” issue a letter confirming the carrier’s continuing fitness and “promptly grant its application for scheduled certificate authority,” ADI’s attorneys wrote.
“The stars are aligning here. It looks pretty favorable,” said Dan Dickten, director of aviation for the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates the airport in Vienna Township. The Beardsleys, who also are “big in the real estate business” in Portland, are “very reputable folks.”
DOT had balked at ADI’s request to provide scheduled service at Youngstown-Warren and questioned the airline’s fitness to operate when concerns were raised over Beale based on a fraud finding in a civil case last year.
DOT must now approve ADI’s fitness and certification for daily interstate airline service, Dickten said. “I have every reason to believe from people who have been talking to ADI that DOT is interested in getting this behind them” and moving forward with approval, he remarked.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
