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By: Benyamin Davidsons
The longtime operator of New York City’s Downtown Heliport is pushing for a formal probe into a contract recently given to its competitor. As reported by the NY Post, Saker Aviation filed an objection after the city Economic Development Corporation selected Downtown Skyport LLC to run the facility moving foward. Saker has been running the city-owned heliport for the past 18 years.
The heliport, located just above the Battery Park on Pier 6, is used by US military and federal law enforcement officials and by President Trump’s Marine One. The company chosen as a replacement to operate the facility is a partnership that includes Skyport — the UK-based Skyports firm and the operator of the London Heliport — and France’s Groupe ADP, which operates Paris’ three airports.
Saker Aviation’s chairman, William Wachtel, penned a letter on Feb. 14 letter to New York City’s Department of Investigation’s Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber. “We write to you to express our strong belief that a criminal investigation should be commenced immediately into this matter,” Wachtel wrote, adding that if city officials were aware of illegal activity and ignored it, that should also be investigated. Wachtel said Downtown Skyport LLC should be disqualified because it appeared to have made “material misrepresentations”
to the EDC— including allegedly concealing “felonious activity” by Groupe ADAP subsidiaries with projects in Croatia, Madagascar, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. Per the Post, Wachtel wrote in the letter that there were “four separate patterns of collusion and bribery” by Groupe ADP subsidiaries with airport development projects overseas which resulted in two deferred prosecution agreements with French authorities. The deals included a $15 million fine in 2023 and “debarment by the World Bank Group in 2022,” per Wachtel’s letter.
Skyport declined to comment. DOI also declined the Post’s request for comment.
Last week, Wachtel had similarly appealed to city Comptroller Brad Lander to reject the contract, citing the same reasons. The comptroller’s office said the contract is being reviewed.
“On its face, this ‘under review’ acknowledgment leads to one ineluctable conclusion, to wit, that the City was not aware of this company’s serial criminal conduct,” Wachtel said.
In a statement to The Post last week, EDC defended the new contract with the Downtown Skyport consortium, but said it would review Saker’s new objection.
Skyport won the contract via a competitive bidding process. Both of its foreign companies have developed the use of quieter electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft—which was a stated top priority for Mayor Eric Adams. The Downtown Heliport, located on the East River in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, has been the source of 59,000 noise complaints from NYC residents last year alone.
Per the Post, in November, the mayor had showed off cutting edge electric helicopters which were much quieter, manufactured by Joby and Volocopter. New York City’s EDC had said it was seeking an operator to install added infrastructure at the city-owned heliport which would accommodate the electric choppers. This would entail installing charge cube stations for the electric helicopters to power up between flights.
