A fight that has been brewing for the past few years between the board that operates Spokane International Airport and the airports oldest and largest provider of refueling and other general aviation services might be reaching a boiling point.


Spokane Airways Inc., which has been whats called a fixed-base operator at the airport since the 1930s and employs more than 100 people, says its considering legal action against the Spokane Airport Board to halt steps that it believes could leave it without an adequate amount of space for its operations.


It contends that the seven-member governing body is violating the terms of Spokane Airways long-term leases with the airport by coercing the company to move into a planned new building at much higher lease rates or risk losing much of its operating space at SIA.


Spokane Airways currently is located in nine buildings on leased land on the east side of the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring SIA to demolish six of those buildings because they would obscure lines of sight from a new $26 million air traffic control tower along Electric Avenue thats expected to be completed by next August. After those buildings are demolished, Spokane Airways remaining space will include a maintenance building, hangar, and small office building.


SIA and Spokane Airways have been discussing relocation possibilities since the airport started planning a number of expansion projects several years ago. The two parties agreed to a particular site at the west end of Pilot Drive, just south of Spokane Airways current site, but then couldnt agree about the terms of the lease for a new building that SIA had designed. Now, in what Spokane Airways regards as a threatening move, SIA has issued a request for proposals for a commercial aviation service to operate on that property.


The terms of Spokane Airways long-term leases with SIA for each of the six buildings, which have a combined total of 63,000 square feet of space, require the airport to relocate Spokane Airways current facilities or provide substitute facilities at the airports expense, says Tim Lawlor, an attorney at Spokane-based Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport & Toole PS who is representing Spokane Airways. Instead, the airport designed a new roughly $4 million structure with about 19,000 square feet of floor space, and told Spokane Airways it would build the structure and move the company there only if Spokane Airways waived its rights under the old lease agreements, and signed a new long-term lease, Lawlor says. That lease would kick in after the old leases expired in 2013 and would amortize the cost of the building over a period of time, raising Spokane Airways monthly rent costs by more than 100 percent, he says.


Thats not providing a building at the airports expense, Lawlor says. Spokane Airways wants SIA to honor the terms of their contract.


Spokane Airways hasnt decided yet whether it will sue the Airport Board, and it still hopes the Airport Board will do the right thing, he says.


Meanwhile, the Airport Board filed a condemnation petition last week in Spokane County Superior Court against Spokane Airways to acquire the companys leases, says Kevin Roberts, an attorney at Spokane-based Dunn & Black PS who is representing the Airport Board in the condemnation action. The board wants to pay Spokane Airways fair-market value for its leases, and provide the company relocation assistance before the buildings are demolished, if the two sides can agree on a new replacement location, Roberts says.


In order to get the tower operational and make sure the traveling public is safe, we have to remove those buildings, Roberts says. This isnt a new issue or a surprise for Spokane Airways. Theyve known about this for years.


He says SIA is looking for other possible sites at the airport for Spokane Airways.


Its pretty straightforward what the airports obligations are, and its their intent to be fair with anyone being affected by the tower project, Roberts says. The airport has been more than willing to work with Spokane Airways and will continue to do so.


Although SIA has said it will help Spokane Airways look for a different site, it now has bid out the best location for a fixed-base operator at the airport, Lawlor asserts. Meanwhile, the company has about eight months to find a new site and build a new facility before the current buildings are torn down, he says.


Theyre knocking down 63,000 square feet of space, arent constructing anything new, and now have put the competitive property out to bid, Lawlor says. Draw your own conclusions as to what that does to a business.


Spokane Airways has been owned by the Chastek family since 1988.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at [email protected].