A Florida court has upheld Miami-Dade County’s decision to award Landmark Aviation a 10-year operating lease for its FBO at Miami International Airport (MIA). Former operator Signature Flight Support had filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging that Landmark “knowingly submitted false and/or misleading financial information to meet a request for proposal’s minimum qualifications.”
After the bidding process last year, Landmark was awarded the lease based on its $9 million minimum annual guarantee in rent and payments. Signature presented a $7.5 million guarantee. An accounting firm hired by Signature claimed that Landmark overstated its financial health by hundreds of millions of dollars, leading Signature to request the legal review of the process. Landmark took over control of the facility just after midnight on June 11.