none none Commenced operations 1937 | none none | |
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Hubs Erie-Ottawa International Airport Website www.griffingflyingservice.com Hub Erie–Ottawa International Airport | ||
Griffing Flying Service, Inc. is a privately owned aviation company based in Port Clinton, Ohio. It operates on-demand passenger flights to islands in Lake Erie, as well as air charter services to the U.S., Canada, and The Bahamas. The company also provides flight training, aerial tours and aircraft maintenance.
Griffing Flying Service is a family-operated business. Founded in 1937 by Harry Thomas Griffing, a former truck driver, by 2016 it was headed by Harry Thomas Griffing Jr., with Harry Thomas Griffing III as its chief pilot. The latter is the third generation of pilots in the family.
After seven years of negotiations, Griffing took over a rival, Island Airlines, in 1992. The deal included the rights to delivery agreements with the US Postal Service and United Parcel Service. It had 18 employees and a fleet of eight aircraft in 2012. It then operated the 133 acres (54 ha) Griffing Sandusky Airport in Sandusky, Ohio but was preparing gradually to move its base to Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport in Ottawa County, where it had in any case operated during the winter since 2008. The move was completed by 2013. The Sandusky site closed on December 31, 2013. All the hangars and the entrance was demolished April 2016. The airport will be replaced by Cedar Point Sports Center.
In 2016, the company was named Business of the Year by the Ottawa County Improvement Corporation.