Trump Had Deal With Scotland Airport That Sent Flight Crews to His Resort

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by slakmehl
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The crew, which consisted of active duty and national guard members from Alaska, was charged $136 per room, which was less expensive than a Marriott property’s rate of $161. And both were under the per diem rate of $166.

“A local agent on contract with the U.S. government assisted with the reservations and indicated that there wasn’t a room available closer to Prestwick airport,” the Air Force said in a statement. A Defense Department official added on Monday that “yes — the Air Force relies on a contracted representative at the Prestwick airport to support our aircrew needs.”

The number of such stops by Air Force planes at Prestwick rose from 180 in 2017 to 257 last year and 259 so far this year. The 259 stops this year included 220 overnight stays. Since October 2017, records show 917 payments for expenses including fuel at the airport worth a total of $17.2 million.

Air Force officials could not say on Monday how many times military crews had been sent to Trump Turnberry, but added that they are now going through vouchers to come up with such a count.

Lt. Gen. Jon T. Thomas, the deputy commander of the Air Force Air Mobility Command, said in an interview on Monday that the rising number of military stopovers at Prestwick was entirely based on operational demands, as the airport is in a convenient location, has 24-hour operations and offers ample aircraft parking, among other advantages. He added that the Air Force has been using Prestwick for stopovers since at least the late 1990s.

But he agreed that the decision to place Air Force crew members at a hotel owned by Mr. Trump’s family had created questions that the Defense Department needed to address. As a result, the Air Force is now reviewing policies on where crews are put up in hotels during international trips.

“Let’s make sure we are considering potential for misperception that could be created by where we billet the aircrews,” he said. “It is a reasonable ask for us to make sure we are being sensitive to misperceptions that could be formed by the American people or Congress or anyone else.”

slakmehl on September 10th, 2019 at 00:59 UTC »

The government records, released through Scottish Freedom of Information law, show that the Trump organization, starting in 2014, entered a partnership with the airport to try to increase private and commercial air traffic to the region.

As part of that arrangement, the Trump Organization worked to get Trump Turnberry added to a list of hotels that the airport would routinely send aircrews to, even though the Turnberry resort is 20 miles from the airport, farther away than many other hotels, and has higher advertised prices.

And then, as if by magic, in 2017 US military refuelings skyrocketed to the point that they represent the vast majority of the airport's business, according to a Scotsman report in June:

The lucrative deal with the US military is now the beleaguered airport’s single biggest revenue stream by some considerable distance. In the first three months of 2019, for instance, the DLA authorised payments to Prestwick worth £1.4m. That is more than twice the revenue generated via passenger services in the entirety of 2017/18.

Since at least September 2018, Prestwick has been successfully funneling crews to stay Turnberry. At least four such instances have been confirmed so far. No airman or officer Politico has spoken to so far in their investigation had ever heard of layover arrangements like this until recently.

We don't know how much involvement, direct or indirect, Trump had in this arrangement becoming so lucrative for both parties, but we know that the next closest airport to Turnberry is three times as far away. Trump's resort needs that airport, and that airport needs those refuelings from the Trump administration to survive. Both are being kept in business by the US taxpayer.

WoRanger14 on September 10th, 2019 at 00:57 UTC »

Here are a series of documents obtained via Scottish Freedom of Information law that shows Trump Org negotiating with Glasgow-area airport. The goal: send air crews to Trump Turnberry golf resort. That now includes US Air Force crews

The-Autarkh on September 10th, 2019 at 00:57 UTC »

So his denials didn't even hold up for a day.