Wilmington International Airport is losing one of its general aviation fixed base operators in 10 days, an airport official said Friday.

Operations director Gary Broughton said that Aviat Mall, which took over the fixed base operation (FBO) in June replacing Aero Services, has not been able to deliver the services it promised. ILM contracted with Aviat Mall a year ago.

“They basically said to us they didn’t realize how deep the water was,” he said. “They had never run an FBO before. They submitted a great pro-forma for the five-year lease, but 10 months into this, they were unable to meet ILM’s minimum standards and defauted on their rent payment a couple of times.

“To remain fair to all the tenants, we had to give them their notice, which is effective May 10. But as of today, they are still here.”

Broughton said that Aviat Mall, while physically present, is not able to provide a full range of services – notably fuel service.

“They sold their fuel trucks, so they can’t fuel the aircraft. We do have another FBO on the north side of the field that has fuel; so we still have a full-service FBO here in Wilmington," he said. "We had worked hard to have two FBOs in order to serve the entire population for general aviation: corporate fliers as well as smaller aircraft.”

It has been difficult to attract companies to run the FBO because the airport is offering only a five-year contract, which does not provide much longevity in exchange for an operator’s investment, Broughton explained. Of the 17 requests for proposal ILM sent out in 2014, Aviat Mall was the sole respondent.

The reason for a short-term contract is that the airport’s master plan calls for modifying the north side of the field, where Air Wilmington and the customs facility are located, to relocate a second FBO. That timetable, Broughton said, is about five years because of the magnitude of the project.

“If we can indeed support two FBOs, we want them on the same side of the field,” he added.

In the meantime, tenants at the Aviat Mall site are able to tie down and leave their aircraft – basically a self-service situation, according to Broughton. Airport officials recently surveyed their general aviation customers to get some guidance for planning.

“We’re busy trying to put that [input] together now,” he said. “We want to know from the general aviation community what they need and what they would like to see here; what’s the best use of the facility.”