Georgetown, Del., April 4, 2006: A new restaurant has touched down at the Sussex County Airport, and the owners are hopeful business soon will be flying in.

Sussex County Council, at its Tuesday, April 4, 2006, meeting, granted a five-year lease to Lisa Brown and Lorie Thomsen, whose partnership, Airport Restaurant Corp., will operate the restaurant within the terminal building at the county-managed airport just outside Georgetown. The lease agreement takes effect immediately.

The new eatery, called The Flight Deck Restaurant, replaces Jimmy’s Fly-In Grill, which opened after the terminal building’s construction was completed in 2002. Council gave its blessing to terminate the previous lease at the former business owners’ request.

The change in lease holders will not mean interrupted service, said Sussex County Economic Development Director Stephen T. Masten, whose office manages the airport and terminal building. “They’re open for business,” Mr. Masten said.

The new lease also ensures that Sussex County will continue to collect income from a tenant in the space. The new restaurant operators will pay approximately $22,000 annually to occupy the restaurant. The county owns the space, as well as the kitchen equipment, while the operators manage and run the restaurant and its staff of about 20 employees.