Martin Aviation Sold; Buyers Plan Expansion : Acquisitions: John Wayne Airport’s leading flight services provider is bought by two former AirCal executives in an all-cash deal. They see ‘enormous potential.’

Martin Aviation, the 67-year-old aircraft flight services company founded by aviation pioneer Eddie Martin, has been acquired by a partnership headed by residential developer and former AirCal co-owner William Lyon.

Lyon and partner David Banmiller, a longtime AirCal executive who was president of the Newport Beach-based airline when it was acquired by American Airlines in 1987, bought Martin in an all-cash deal from La Jolla businessman Robert H. Volk.

The sale, contingent on approval by state, county and federal government agencies, is expected to be completed late next week. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Banmiller said in an interview Wednesday that he and Lyon plan to expand Martin Aviation’s charter business and to push into air transportation services that could include contract maintenance and ground service at other airports, both for private operators and for commercial airlines.

He said he and Lyon do not plan to use Martin as a launching pad to get back into the scheduled airline business.

“The acquisition was made because we see enormous potential in the private aircraft charter business, especially in the Orange County area because of its huge business base,” Banmiller said.

Martin is the largest flight services operator based at John Wayne Airport. It runs a flight school, maintenance and repair services, aircraft and aircraft parts sales and a major charter operation.

In addition, Martin Aviation provides fueling service for 70% of commercial jet carriers at the airport.

Banmiller said the company grossed $23 million in revenue for 1989.

The holding company formed by Lyon and Banmiller, Air/Lyon Inc., will own the Martin name, the company’s physical assets, including its fleet of 40 charter planes, and the Martin charter facility that opened in May in Virginia.

After completion of the acquisition, Banmiller said, the new owners plan a major expansion of the East Coast charter operation and hope to add an executive jet and a helicopter to its fleet.

The Virginia facility is “strategically located to provide service throughout the Northeast and that will help extend the Martin name and reputation,” Banmiller said.

Martin last year executed a new five-year lease at John Wayne Airport with a contingency clause that extends the lease to 25 years if at least $1.7 million in improvements are made by 1993.

Air/Lyon has told county airport officials that it intends to make those improvements, but Banmiller would not provide specifics about plans for the Orange County facility.

Under the sale agreement, Volk will remain co-owner with Air/Lyon of the Martin Aviation satellite facility at Long Beach Municipal Airport. Volk will be sole owner of the Martin facility at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport and will continue using the Martin name under license to Air/Lyon, Banmiller said.

Martin Aviation was founded in 1923 by pioneer aviator Eddie Martin when he and a brother, John, began flying passengers from an empty field on the Irvine Ranch about a mile from today’s John Wayne Airport.

In 1939, Martin sold his interest in the operation to his younger brother, Floyd, and in 1941 the business was moved to the new Orange County Airport--now John Wayne Airport.

The Martin family link to the business ended in 1963.

Volk, who was state corporations commissioner under former Gov. Ronald Reagan, bought the business in 1980.