Yankwitt: Setting The Record Straight About Million Air's New York Lawsuit

By Russell Yankwitt, NH Journal

There has been speculation that Million Air’s lawsuit with the County of Westchester in New York is a preview of what will come to the Pease International Tradeport. However, those assertions overlook Million Air’s good intentions and disregard the economic benefits to the community of a second hangar that Million Air is seeking to build in Westchester County.

One misconception is that Million Air breached its lease with the County, which is incorrect. As outlined in the complaint filed in Federal District Court in Westchester, N.Y., Million Air alleges Westchester County breached its lease by unreasonably refusing to approve Million Air’s request to build a second hangar. In fact, the court ruled Million Air has stated a claim that the County violated the lease.

Million Air has been waiting for Westchester County’s approval for the new hangar since 2017 and has done everything the county requested, including commissioning a study that found that the new hangar would reduce air traffic and environmental and sound pollution.

Another erroneous assertion is that Westchester County has not approved Million Air’s new stormwater system. In fact, the county initially told Million Air to wait to complete the system until the new hangar was approved, but later reversed its decision and blamed Million Air. That reversal is another claim in Million Air’s lawsuit, which the court also approved to go forward, and Million Air has completed the system in compliance with environmental requirements. Million Air has, and always will, make the utmost effort to comply with all environmental requirements.

Million Air’s second hangar would bring significant economic benefits to Westchester County and its residents, including job opportunities for the local workforce and attracting large companies to the area. However, the county’s unreasonable refusal to approve the new hangar forced Million Air to file a lawsuit, seeking to have a federal court enforce its rights under its lease with the county.

Russell Yankwitt is the founder and managing partner of White Plains-based law firm Yankwitt LLP, Westchester County’s go-to law firm for high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation. He wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.