Note 14 - Related Party Matters

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]

14. Related Party Matters

Since

1979

the Company has leased the Little Mountain Airport in Maiden, North Carolina from a corporation whose stock is owned in part by former officers and directors of the Company and an estate of which certain former directors are beneficiaries. The facility consists of approximately

68

acres with

one

3,000

-foot paved runway, approximately

20,000

square feet of hangar space and approximately

12,300

square feet of office space. The operations of Air T, MAC and ATGL are headquartered at this facility. The lease for this facility provides for monthly rent of

$14,862

and expires on

January

31,

2018,

though the lease

may

be renewed by us for

three

additional

two

-year option periods through

January

31,

2024.

The lease agreement provides that the Company shall be responsible for maintenance of the leased facilities and for utilities, taxes and insurance.

Since

April

1,

2015,

the Company’s leasing subsidiary has acquired interests in

two

equipment leases originated by Vantage Financial, LLC (“Vantage”) for aggregate payments to Vantage of approximately

$401,250.

The interests in the acquired leases entitle the Company’s leasing subsidiary to receive lease payments from the

third

parties leasing the equipment for a specified period. Pursuant to the agreements between the Company’s leasing subsidiary and Vantage, Vantage’s fees for servicing the equipment leases for the leasing subsidiary (approximately

$1,000)

were included in the acquisition payments. William R. Foudray, a director of the Company, is the Executive Vice President and a co-founder of Vantage. The amounts paid by the Company’s leasing subsidiary to Vantage to acquire these lease assets represent approximately

1%

of Vantage’s outstanding lease assets at

December

31,

2016

and the servicing income represents less than

1%

of Vantage’s annual revenues.

As described in Note

2,

Contrail Aviation’s

December

31,

2016

balance sheet reflects an earnout liability to Contrail Aviation Support, Inc. of approximately

$2.9

million. Contrail Aviation Support, Inc. is wholly-owned by Joseph Kuhn, who is Contrail Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer and a related party of the Company.

In connection with the acquisition described in Note

2,

on the Contrail Closing Date, Contrail Aviation entered into a lease for the premises formerly leased by Contrail Aviation Support, Inc. in the operation of the acquired Contrail business. The leased premises are owned by a limited liability company owned by Mr. Kuhn and another employee of Contrail Aviation. The lease has an initial term of

five

years and

may

be renewed by Contrail Aviation for an additional

five

-year period or terminated by Contrail Aviation after an initial

30

-month period upon payment of a termination fee equal to

six

times the then-current monthly rental amount. Monthly rent under the lease is initially

$13,081

and increases annually by

1.5%.