A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

The Orange County (California) board of supervisors on Tuesday selected ACI Jet and Clay Lacy as the two full-service FBO operators that will receive new long-term leases at John Wayne-Orange County Airport (SNA) in response to a request for proposals (RFP)&nbsp;the county issued last September.

 


Under the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-06-26/orange-county-approves-ga-restructuring-sna">airport’s redevelopment and rezoning plan</a>, San Luis Obispo, California-based ACI Jet, which had <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-01-26/orange-county-replace-signature-aci-jet-sna">replaced Signature Flight Support in 2017</a>, was selected to remain as the service provider on the northeast side of the field. On the northwest side, Clay Lacy Aviation, which is headquartered in Van Nuys, California,&nbsp;was chosen to replace incumbent Atlantic Aviation, despite <a href="http://cams.ocgov.com/Web_Publisher/Agenda08_11_2020_files/images/BOARD%20OF%20SUPERVISORS%20-%20GAIP%20BRIEFING%20-%20SELECTION%20OF%20FBOS%20-%208.11.20_9855203.PDF">Atlantic scoring 475 points out of a possible 500 in the RFP</a>—the highest score of any of the applicants—compared with&nbsp;Clay Lacy’s score of 393.

 


Other major FBO chains Jet Aviation and Million Air also responded to the RFP, which closed on June 1, after an addendum to the original request was added.

 


AIN reached out to the Orange County board of supervisors about why Atlantic Aviation, as the highest-scoring company in the RFP process, wasn't awarded a lease, but the board had not yet responded at press time. "We are very surprised that we were not awarded the bid based on our score and our 17-year tenure at SNA," Atlantic Aviation CEO Lou Pepper told AIN.

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The Orange County (California) Board of Supervisors selected the FBO operators who will receive new long-term leases at John Wayne-Orange County Airport.

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