Castle & Cooke Aviation Services Inc. is expanding its facility at Van Nuys Airport with a new aircraft hangar and office building. The Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles World Airports this month approved a 30-year lease for the aviation firm to operate as a fixed-base operator at the airport. A fixed-base operation is allowed to sell fuel to transient aircraft and offer other services. Castle & Cooke has operated at Van Nuys since 1975 for its owner, billionaire David Murdock, and later expanded with a hangar and fuel farm for corporate tenants. The firm is leasing additional land adjacent to its existing facility on the west side of the Valley airfield to meet the 7-acre requirement to be considered an FBO. The project will include a new 50,000 square foot hangar and office building, a customer service lobby and a 75,000-square-foot aircraft apron. In a prepared statement Murdock, chairman and CEO of Dole Food Co., said he has long wanted to have a fixed-base operation at Van Nuys and decided to build one himself. “At last we will have a truly world class operation at Van Nuys,” Murdoch said. “Now crew and aircraft passengers can enjoy the comforts of home as well as the business resources they need while at our FBO at Van Nuys.” Castle & Cooke became embroiled in a legal tiff this year when airfield competitor Maguire Aviation filed a lawsuit in August alleging that Castle & Cooke had been misrepresenting itself as an FBO and taking away fuel sales from Maguire. At the time of the filing, Castle & Cooke was only allowed to fuel its own airplanes and those leasing hangar space. The lawsuit was dismissed Nov. 4 in Los Angeles Superior Court at the request of attorneys for Maguire. Mark R. Madler
