The Department of Justice will require London’s BBA Aviation, owner of Signature Flight Support headquartered in Orlando, Florida, to sell fixed-base operations at six airports as a condition of its $2.065 billion acquisition of Landmark Aviation.
The department’s antitrust division filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the acquisition but also filed the proposed settlement. Antitrust officials were concerned that without selling the FBOs, it would create a monopoly for Signature at three airports and reduce the number of competitors from three to two at three other airports. The officials said higher prices and lower quality service were likely to result.
Without the agreement, competition would be lost at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia; Scottsdale Airport in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Fresno Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, California.
Providers would have been reduced from three to two at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, California; Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York; and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska. At each of those airports, the third FBO is much smaller than either Signature or Landmark.
Signature’s parent company, BBA, has indicated it will accept the settlement and expects the deal to be completed shortly.
