Ban to Continue Until Off-Airport Company Meets County Conditions

MONTROSE – The Montrose Board of County Commissioners met in closed session Monday with legal counsel over matters concerning JetAway Aviation, but no news has come out of that meeting – at least not yet.

Commissioner Gary Ellis said the BOCC may have “some news coming up fairly soon” concerning JetAway and its long legal battle with Montrose County, but is waiting for feedback from JetAway.

Due to pending litigation, Ellis declined to say more, except that JetAway has not done business since the county first denied airport access to the off-airport company in mid-November of last year. The BOCC has continued to extend the revocation, most recently earlier this month, when the ban was applied indefinitely.

The commissioners also decided to put out bids to build a gate “across the Echo 6 connector” that could physically cut off JetAway from airport access, he said. Other companies that are also housed at One Creative Place just north of the airport, such as Western Skyways, would have access codes to open the electronic gate, he said.

“They can’t do any business, and if they do they’re in violation of the resolution,” he said of JetAway. “But we have no enforcement mechanism, and they can still open their hangar doors and allow aircraft in.”

It may be some time before a gate is built, he said, because the county must first issue a Request for Proposals and then pick a bid in addition to actual construction.

The county stated in a news release that in the past, JetAway had violated airport regulations by allowing unauthorized vehicles on taxiways and “other continued violations” that led the continuation of the ban.

To continue to do business at the airport, JetAway can schedule a hearing with the county to present its own evidence, provided it submits a signed access permit agreement and “tendered payment of required fees.”

Those required fees will come to about $50,000 per year, considerably more than the $250 per year JetAway pays now.

Ellis said the resolution banning JetAway from airport property will continue until JetAway meets county conditions.

The county’s conflict with JetAway began in late 2005 when the county got out of private jet services and let the bid for fixed-base operator, or FBO, services to Black Canyon Jet Center. JetAway has been filing lawsuits ever since, and the battle has cost the county close to $750,000 in legal fees.