Peninsulair locked out at CYHM by Tradeport!

[hazatude]

At 0700 this morning this exact thing happened. Police were there along with airport security. The story is developing and once the Peninsulair lawyers get at them Monday morning, things may change.

In the mean time if you have any business with Peninsulair, leave me a message here and I will forward it to the appropriate parties.

Thanks for your patience in this matter,

Greg Haza
Peninsulair Ltd.

[Changes in Latitudes]

Wow...someone's going to be proven to be extremely greasy here.

Did Peninsulair not pay its bills or is Tradeport running them out of town for no reason?
Either way I hope things work our for the Peninsulair team.

[...]

I'm sorry Haza...if you can't beat 'em...join 'em.

Although your passion is/was compelling for a proper resolve amongst gentlemen...you still gotta eat.

Next time you need help...come down to Barton & Sherman...I know a guy that knows a guy that loves to resolve things 'ole school' way...(for the right price).

Chin up, there is always a better day 'demain'...

[Skyanide]

Sorry to hear about this, bro. Chin up, hope it gets worked out soon.

Matt Scott

[hazatude]

I can't say too much here but Tradeport has made it quite clear that they do not want General Aviation in Hamilton.

[flyingdan]

great day for my first x-country too

I knew I shoulda grabbed my PTR and log book on Friday

[Driving Rain]

Now I didn't go to one of them fancy law schools, but let me tell ya bout my kind of lawyer-in.
I find out where ya live and ya know that little yellow dog your daughter loves so much?.....

[deflux]

Is there an e-mail address for Tradeport that you know of where we can express our concerns?

[hazatude]

great day for my first x-country too

I knew I shoulda grabbed my PTR and log book on Friday

They are safe Dan. Hold tight and we'll take care of things.

[hazatude]

Is there an e-mail address for Tradeport that you know of where we can express our concerns?

If you would like to voice your concerns regarding Tradeport's unfair treatment of General Aviation at CYHM, please contact:

Mailing Address:
Hamilton International Airport Limited
9300 Airport Road, Suite 2206
Mount Hope, Ontario L0R 1W0
Attn. Frank Scremin

or

fscremin@flyhi.ca

or call

905-679-1999 ext. 224

[Four1oh]

Is there more details forthcoming for those of us out of the know?

[hazatude]

I will post details in this thread when they come in.

[yem]

Well that just sucks ... wonder what's going to happen to all the guys half way through training ...
Tradeport is definately not playing very nice ...
Getting rid of general aviation and the only flight school on the airport, next the 447 wing and who knows what else ... anything that doesn't bring them enough money will eventually disappear ... What a shame.

Yem.

[WingsUpWheelsDown]

Tradeport certainly isn't "feeling the love"...lol.. I'm just a flight test away from my Commercial and looks like Buttonville is the closest with a Piper that can spin....really don't feel like jumping to a Cessna right now! I'm hoping that PenAir resurfaces today with a bit of time..but with those huge CargoJet 727's peering over the hangar...one does get a sense that there's a new tenant ready to move in and there was absolutely no chance for any deal. It's a shame. Hamilton without a flight school, sight seeing flights or small aircraft rentals...talk about Samson and Goliath!

[yem]

Well, good luck for your commercial lisence .. I'm myself halfway through the "night rating".
Hopefully they'll settle with an agreement allowing students to finish what they started.

[PA31 Driver]

It's a sad sad day !! & i hope this matter gets resolved with Tradeport....


I'm willing on helping out where i can for those of you that need/want ( or wants to finish ) an IFR rating ... group 3

[yem]

Well, here is some news guys ...
http://www.thespec.com/article/460465

[hazatude]

Well, here is some news guys ...
http://www.thespec.com/article/460465

Thanks for that.




Peninsulair loses dogfight
TheSpec.com - News - Peninsulair loses dogfight
Flying school locked out of hangar at Hamilton airport

By Steve Arnold, The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton’s only flying school has been shot down in flames.
Peninsulair, which has been teaching commercial and weekend pilots to fly since 1946, was locked out of its hangar at Hamilton airport on the weekend after a 10-month dispute over its lease.
The action grounds the hopes of up to 100 student pilots who were studying with the school.
“We’ve been negotiating with them since the beginning of the year and we finally reached a point where neither side was in a position to continue,” said Hamilton airport spokesperson Steve Howse. “We’re very disappointed. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t come to an agreement with them but in the end we had to act in the best interests of managing the assets.
“We think we did everything we could to keep them and it’s unfortunate that it had to end this way,” he added.
Peninsulair, operated by brothers Rick and Marty White who took it over from their father Glenn, got its start in 1946 when Hamilton airport was still located in the east end of the city. When that field was closed to make way for post-war housing, Glenn White moved his school to the former RCAF station at Mount Hope, where he also served as part-time airport manager.
The company operated from a hangar it bought from the federal government in 1975 when the building was declared surplus. While Peninsulair owns the hangar, the airport owns the ground its sits on. Hamilton airport is owned by the city, but operated by TradePort International Corp. under a 40-year lease.
In a July interview Rick White said since TradePort took over the operation of the airport, small businesses have been steadily forced out by rocket-powered rent increases -- 250 per cent in the first three months after TradePort took over, 48 per cent five years later and more than 50 per cent in April.
For Peninsulair, those numbers mean rent has gone from $443 a month in 1988 to more than $4,400 a month this year. Rent for similar space at the airports in Brantford, London, St. Catharines and Kitchener ranges between $800 and $1,000 a month.
The company had been operating under a long-term lease it signed with the city in 1988. That agreement expired March 31 and when Peninsulair asked for a 20-year renewal TradePort refused on the grounds it needs the space for expansion. It offered a renewal of only five years, with the right to end the deal on six months' notice.
Negotiations started in January and continued throughout the year with TradePort offering a long-term lease on another airport site, a short term lease on the current location or TradePort would approve a new owner for the business with a realistic business plan.
In an e-mail, Rick White accused TradePort of scuttling his efforts to sell the business. White did not respond to requests for clarification and Howse flatly rejected the allegation.
“We haven’t done anything to jeopardize any deals,” he said. “We have not been formally contacted by anyone interested in negotiating a lease for that site.”
Howse said Peninsulair’s options now are to remove its hangar to another property, sell the business or sell the hangar to TradePort at “fair market value.” That value, he added, will have to reflect TradePort’s assessment that the hangar needs more than $100,000 in improvements before it can be leased out again.
“We couldn’t turn that space around and rent it right again. It’s going to need a fair amount of investment,” he said. “No one is waiting in line to take over this space, but we need it for future airport development.”

sarnold@thespec.com
905-526-3496

[ruddersup?]

Are you saying that you have a lease with no limits on raising monthly rents?
I have a Transport Canada lease that is very specific on how much they can raise it. It must be inline with market assesment and I can challenge the new rate by getting my own assesment. This can take place every 5 years.
I'll bet your lease says that price increases are based on previous lessor policy. If so this will work in your favour.

[joco]

Sorry to hear that... (:
joco

[RatherBeFlying]

I'd raise a big stink with the City councillors if they gave Tradeport a lease that allows them to screw existing airport businesses with no limit.

Let the councillors know how many jobs will be lost.

Looks like the horse is out of the barn as far as Peninsulair is concerned, but if your city is about to lease out your local airport to somebody like Tradeport, it's time to apply the political pressure to ensure fair treatment of existing businesses in the lease.

Apply to make the hangar a heritage building so that Tradeport is stuck with it.

[xsbank]

Haz, I sure hope Penninsulair has a good lawyer working on this - it sounds like there is skullduggery afoot. My lawyer buddy is at a conference so I may not be able to get his advice for a day or two (its his specialty) but when I do I'll contact you; this situation just stinks, especially if they own the hangar.

I like the heritage idea!

[freakonature]

YVRAS.

[WingsUpWheelsDown]

Well, Tradeport was hired by the City of Hamilton to manage the assets at the airport..and I guess this is their idea of good management? Kick the little guy??? Peninsulair isn't the first little guy to collapse under their pressure...and personally, I think they're getting off on it! There's more than a skunk on the tarmac at CYHM, and we all knew what was coming when they took our apron space away many months ago. Problem is they're terrible operators. We still don't have walkways to the commercial flights, our main terminal looks like a portable discarded from YYZ, we lost the Westjet Hub, Jazz pulled out, the Westjet Hangar is sitting empty and now, they've successfully removed the only flying school which also operated small charters, sight seeing flights, hangar space, and small plane rentals.

Is the Spec article correct? Considering that there was a bona fide buyer at the table right up until Friday night, I'm afraid to say that Tradeport appears to be using some bad form here. Peninsulair was a viable operation, choked by corporate bullying and greed, and it makes me feel ill. The Airport belongs to all of us...and this is who we have hired to look after our interests? Wow....Good luck to all my fellow students and all the respected instructors, scrambling to find a new landing strip! Good Luck to Marty, Rick and Kathryn White...owners of PenAir...nothing would make me happier than to be sitting in QEQ for my flight test! And...I can't think of one successful business that could operate knowing their lease could be increased at any time, without rent justification and terminated with 6 months notice.

[hazatude]

Tradeport is allowing management access at 1000 this morning but it's supervised and only enough to get important files etc. out.