Airport Takes Hooters to Court: LVIA Sues for Fuel Costs of $1 Million As Airline Ends Flights.
Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 09:00 CST
By Jeanne Bonner, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Mar. 30--Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority is suing Hooters Air for $1.1 million owed by the discount airline.
The airport authority, which operates Lehigh Valley International Airport, acknowledged last month that Hooters Air owed about $1 million mostly for fuel. In a suit filed March 16 in Lehigh County Court, the airport said Hooters breached its one-year contract by not paying its bills.
The authority has not received payments from Hooters since January, airport officials said.
The charges are for fuel and other services, including baggage handling.
Hooters Air, which began flying from LVIA in May, is run by the same company that operates the restaurant chain known for its buxom waitresses.
The airline, which has flown to Orlando, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Las Vegas from here, will cease flying from LVIA on April 19. It cited high fuel costs and pressures to keep fares low as reasons for the shutdown.
On Wednesday, Hooters Air said it would also cancel the one remaining regularly scheduled flight to Myrtle Beach from Newark, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun-Times.
The airline will run only private charter flights, at least until the industry turns around, it said.
The airline is one of three discount carriers that have arrived at LVIA in the past 18 months, only to succumb to high fuel costs and other problems.
The airport authority was owed $1 million by Southeast Airlines when it abruptly ceased service in November of 2004. TransMeridian Airlines shut down operations at LVIA in September 2005.
As new carriers, the airlines receive incentives from LVIA, including a reprieve on landing fees and other costs. In addition, LVIA is able to sell the carriers fuel at a discount price.
In addition to Hooters Air, the airport authority is suing Pace Airlines, which operates the carrier's flights.
LVIA also is requesting $50,000 in damages, in addition to interest and the costs of the suit.
jeanne.bonner@mcall.com
610-820-6539
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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania
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