On April 19, the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority served an eviction notice to Sedona Air Tours, a helicopter tour provider that leases space on airport property.
Sedona Air Tours president and CEO, Eric Brunner, declined to comment on the issue but directed the Sedona Red Rock News to his company’s attorney, Christopher Harshman, who said the reason given for the eviction is there is no lease agreement between Sedona Air Tours and Yavapai County.
The Sedona Airport is owned by the county and operated by the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority, a nonprofit organization that operates as a government agency.
“The county attempted to bring what is known as a forceful entry and detainment action against Sedona Air Tours, and the judge stayed that action, prevented it from moving forward, while a bunch of other litigation is resolved,” Harshman said.
Harshman added that, although there is no lease, it is not clear if the company needs one to operate out of the airport; therefore, the airport would have no legal grounds to evict Sedona Air Tours.
“There [are] serious questions as to the property of this, such as a sense to which guidance got the lease, whether the county is obligated to provide us — Sedona Air Tours, which is otherwise a qualified operator — a lease under federal regulation, so that’s also being decided by the court, by the FAA,” he said.
As of press time, Sedona Air Tours had not been evicted from the property, as the county needs to win a forceful entry
and detainment lawsuit against the operator for the eviction to go through and no decision has been made so far.
Moreover, according to Harshman, a judge has said they would not look at the case until the other legal disputes between the operator and the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority — which have been going on since at least 2018 — are resolved.
According to Harshman, the disputes include an appellate litigation and an FAA litigation; the latter “will potentially weigh in on whether or not the county infringed on Sedona Air Tour’s right to be at the airport in the way that’s handled its request or proposal,” he explained.
The attorney added that the provider has no problems that would justify the eviction notice, including no safety or revenue issues. He also stated that judges working on the case have said repeatedly the county does not have a case.
“The county is sort of needlessly spending money to try and kick out a safe operator who plays by the rules and pays their bills and we don’t understand it,” Harshman said.
The county spent several thousand dollars on legal bills fighting Sedona Air Tours, Harshman said. He also provided the NEWS with a copy of a Part 13 complaint [14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 13] lodged by Sedona Air Tours regarding the $350,000 in legal expenses the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority reported on its FY 2018-19 Annual Revenue and Expenditure Budget.
“The county’s use of airport revenue to fund its relentless legal campaign to deny Dakota reasonable, non-discriminatory access to SEZ [Sedona Airport’s call letters] is impermissible, and must be curtailed,” the March 8 complaint reads.
“Dakota” refers to Dakota Territory Tours, ACC, the legal business name of Sedona Air Tours. “Dakota urges the FAA to investigate this complaint and issue an order, or take such other enforcement action as may be warranted, to bring SOCAA into compliance with its federal obligations as an airport sponsor.”
When contacted, the airport authority declined to comment.
“As you might expect, on the advice of our attorney we cannot discuss matters that are in active litigation,” General Manager Deborah Abingdon wrote in an email.
Natasha Heinz can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 117, or email at nheinz@larsonnewspapers.com
