From left, Jeff Air Pilot Services Operations Manager Gretchen Jeffries, Owner and Director of Marketing David Jeffries, and Managing Member Tom Jeffries pose for a photo next to a plane on April 21, 2022, at Indy South Greenwood Airport.
Daily Journal File Photo
JOHNSON COUNTY — A longtime tenant at the Indy South Greenwood Airport is frustrated after their lease was terminated abruptly earlier this month.
The lease held by Jeff Air Pilot Services, a family-owned flight school that has occupied 960 square feet of space inside the airport’s main terminal building since 2011, was terminated by the Greenwood Board of Aviation Commissioners at their Jan. 9 meeting. Jeff Air was given until March 30 to vacate the premises and give the space back to the city. Jeff Air has previous connections to the Columbus Municipal Airpot.
Jeff Air leadership contends they were blindsided by the decision. They’re also frustrated and concerned with how the situation was handled.
“There was no talk leading up to the meeting … leading up to even giving us any options,” said David Jeffries, owner of Jeff Air. “… And even after the fact, we have not been presented with any options, except: go find some somewhere else.”
City leadership says the airport needs the space back to have more flexibility to grow.
“There are just a lot of things going on at the airport that we would like to have more flexibility to help us grow our side of the airport,” said Mayor Mark Myers. “And that’s not happening with them being in the building, occupying the building.”
Letters detail termination, response
Jeff Air’s most recent lease at the airport was entered into in March 2020 for a one-year term. The lease automatically renewed for successive one-year terms unless terminated under the terms of the lease, according to copies of the termination letter provided to the Daily Journal by Jeff Air and the city.
One paragraph of the lease agreement provides the city, as landlord, can terminate the lease with 60 days written notice if it’s determined in the “best overall interests” of the airport. On Jan. 9, the aviation board determined it was, with board members saying the space could be used for airport purposes and future expansions of operations, the letter says.
The termination letter was sent the following day, Jan. 10. Jeff Air was given until March 30 to surrender the space inside the terminal, according to the letter.
Tom Jeffries, managing member for Jeff Air, responded to the city on Jan. 14, writing in a letter that Jeff Air wasn’t represented at the meeting because they were unaware the termination was up for discussion. He also alleged Jeff Air failed to receive an emailed notice of the meeting agenda, which his business partner had received in the past, according to a copy of the letter provided to the Daily Journal through a public records request.
He also took issue with the city’s justification, saying Jeff Air was unaware of any future expansion plans from the city except maybe a ramp expansion. Additionally, he later brought up reported past attempts by Jeff Air to find an alternative site at the airport site, which he said were turned down by the city. The company has no intent to acquire off-airport office space to continue operations there, he wrote in the letter.
“Our departure will be a total departure,” Tom Jeffries wrote.
After discussing other impacts of the decision on students and staff, Tom Jeffries concluded by asking for it to be reversed.
‘Negative impact’
In phone interviews with the Daily Journal over the last week, both Tom and David Jeffries reiterated their beliefs about the situation. They also said it appeared nothing was changing about the decision.
Jeff Air also aired its concerns more widely Thursday afternoon, issuing a pointed press release calling the city’s decision an “unjustifiable eviction,” “shocking and inexplicable” and “hasty.”
David Jeffries told the Daily Journal the decision doesn’t make economic sense. Both Tom and David Jeffries said Jeff Air accounts for about 60% of the airport’s low lead fuel sales, generating at least $300,000 in sales based on an accounting of their fuel payments. The decision will remove this revenue from the airport — in addition to hanger and office space rent, Tom Jeffries said.
Additionally, the decision will lead to the relocation or letting go of 26 employees at the airport.
“This is a negative impact on the communities as we see it,” Tom Jeffries said. “We contribute a lot to Greenwood. We brought in people, we provided jobs, and that just seems counterproductive to what the city is wanting to do.”
Jeff Air also provides flight training for military personnel who use their Veterans Affairs benefits to help pay for the training — the only provider of this training in the Indianapolis area, Tom Jeffries said. The VA’s approval of this is site-specific, and Jeff Air would have to get approval from the VA to operate this program at another airport.
But these students would have to drive a distance if Jeff Air were to move. Right now, the eight students face displacement, and possibly having to repay the monies for the training back to the VA, Tom Jeffries said.
Jeff Air also has an agreement with Indiana Wesleyan University to provide flight training for their aviation program. This will also be in jeopardy, company officials said.
The Jefferies have also asked for a chance to give their side of the situation to the aviation board. They were told they could speak during the public comments section of their next meeting, which is Feb. 13. They also asked for a special meeting to make their case and express their concerns about the impact on employees and VA students, but this wasn’t approved, they both said.
City responds
Greenwood’s mayor expanded on the reasoning for the lease termination in an interview with the Daily Journal on Wednesday. Myers said Jeff Air was outgrowing the space and the city wants it back.
Myers also said the pilot’s lounge at the airport needs to be available. There is a lot of transient jet traffic — where people will rent a jet to fly into the area to stay for a few hours— with pilots who need a place to relax while waiting for their passengers to return before taking off again, Myers said.
An example of this transient jet traffic would be Costco, Myers said. Officials from that company fly in and drop off their personnel to visit different Costcos in the area. These employees then come back and leave from the airport, he said.
“We’re talking short-term stays,” Myers said. “That business is picking up quite a bit, and we need the space for those pilots, and then also for the families that are coming in. They need someplace to sit down and relax and wait for their plane to get there, to pick them up and take them wherever.”
Additionally, Myers said Jeff Air’s rent for the space is “extremely low” and the new rent would be “quite a bit higher” if they were able to stay.
“I don’t know that they would want to pay that rate,” he said.
Jeff Air is also welcome to find another place on the field, Myers said. He said the company could convert the hanger they are currently renting, which the Jeffries say is for maintenance, to a training area.
“There are buildings for lease close by that if they want to lease another building right there next to the airport, they have that opportunity,” Myers said. “We’re not kicking them off the field. We’re just taking our space back so that we can use it for what we feel best is for the airport.”
When told the Jefferies felt caught off guard by the decision, Myers said it was just time for contract renewal.
“We sat down as a group and decided that we were not going to renew their contract, and that really that’s about it,” Myers said.
Myers also addressed the concerns about the meeting agenda notice. He said the contract gives them 60 days’ notice, and the city followed the contract.
Lack of options
Tom Jeffries said that about three to four years ago, Jeff Air knew they were outgrowing space and asked the city about building more classrooms, office and hangar space for their operations. He said they were turned down numerous times.
“They’ve not given us any option,” Tom Jeffries said. “They won’t do a land lease anymore. They won’t build a building that we can lease, that they own and we can lease.”
Jeff Air last approached the airport around May and June of 2022 about doing a land lease where Jeff Air would finance a building and get out of the terminal space so they could expand. But the city wasn’t interested, David Jeffries said.
Running a “viable” flight school off-site near the airport is “logistically pretty difficult” as well. They would have to meet customers off-site and take them and their equipment to the airport, he said.
There also is not any space available just off the field at a “reasonable price point,” David Jeffries said. He said Jeff Air would’ve been willing to pay more rent for the terminal space if they were given the option.
Tom Jeffries understands the airport has transient traffic, but doesn’t think it’s at the level where Jeff Air would need to vacate the space, he said.
As long as the airport has a plan, Jeff Air understands but they need “some cooperation” to find a suitable location for their operation, Tom Jeffries said. This hasn’t happened, so the company feels the city has made it difficult for them to operate as they do now, he said.
Right now, Jeff Air has 18 airplanes on the field at the airport. But the Jefferies indicated this may change as they consider completely leaving the airport in light of the situation.
“We’d like to stay. We’d like to be able to fulfill our goals and our purposes and our promises made to our students right here,” Tom Jeffries said. “But at the same time … no one has expressed these things to us, and that’s the frustrating part. No one came to us in the beginning and said, ‘Hey, we’re having this problem. We’re having that problem.’ There have not been any, and so we’re going to need some assurances that this isn’t going to happen again.”
