Million Air is suing Westchester County for $30 million for refusing to allow construction of its planned second hangar at Westchester County Airport (KHPN) in White Plains, New York. According to Million Air’s lawsuit, filed this week in federal court, the replacement hangar is permitted under its lease and the company thus asserts the county is breaching contract obligations by denying the approval to build it.
The FBO alleged the county has already delayed the project by 3.5 years and each additional week of delay adds approximately $175,000 “in lost revenue and other unnecessary costs.” In November 2017, Million Air submitted plans for a second phase of an improvement project outlined in its lease, proposing to build a modified second hangar. The first phase included a 50,000-sq-ft hangar and new passenger terminal, which opened in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Million Air is asking the court for an “expedited declaration” that the county breached its lease by “unreasonably failing” to approve Million Air’s second hangar adjacent to its current hangar and FBO terminal. “Million Air has no choice but to seek the court's intervention to enforce its rights to build the second hangar,” said Russell Yankwitt, one of the lead lawyers representing Million Air.
Westchester County has yet to respond to AIN’s inquiry seeking comment about the lawsuit.