Change is coming to the FBO scene at California’s busy Van Nuys Airport, with one pending acquisition and a possible new facility. Local aircraft management company Maguire Aviation is planning to buy the elegant Spanish-hacienda-style Petersen Aviation FBO, pending Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) approval. The deal should take 30 to 90 days from June 9, the day Petersen notified its employees, according to George Witchell, vice president and member of Maguire Aviation. The new owners plan to change the name of the Petersen FBO, he said, but they had not selected the new name by the middle of last month.

Petersen Aviation is an Exxon Avitat FBO and offers aircraft sales and management services. Robert Maguire III and son Alec are involved with Maguire Aviation, according to Witchell. Robert Maguire Jr. was known as the “Irish Moses” for his work flying Jewish refugees in Douglas DC-4s from Yemen to newly formed Israel in the late 1940s.