Panel Tries to Ensure Survival of Airport Businesses

Concerned about the plight of small businesses based at John Wayne Airport, the Orange County Airport Commission asked county officials Wednesday to study ways of ensuring their survival during the planned major expansion of the facility.

Commission member Gary Proctor sought the study after learning that Tallmantz Aviation, one of the airport’s biggest tenants, had given an eviction notice to Jamshid Ghanbarzadeh, who operates a small piston aircraft repair shop in a hanger he has been subleasing. Tallmantz plans to replace the hanger with a much larger one designed to house corporate jets.

Dennis Horn, deputy airport manager, told the commission he would return with a study of the problem and possible long-term solutions within 30 to 60 days.

County officials rushed to find a temporary solution to Ghanbarzadeh’s eviction problem just before Wednesday night’s commission meeting and got another major airport tenant, Martin Aviation, to agree to put him in a building that won’t be affected by airport construction for some time.