Aircraft hangars are in high demand and short supply, with waiting lists at some airports that can top several years, according to two surveys, one sent to more than 700 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Airport Support Network volunteers, and the other to all 116 public-use Pennsylvania airports.
The results of the Airport Support Network survey indicated that 71% of the airports surveyed have a waiting list for their hangars. And at those airports with a waiting list, 72% of aircraft owners waited from six months to more than two years.
When the wait is over, the available hangar may not be in the desired condition, according to the survey, which found that only 8% of hangars were described as in “excellent” condition, while 36% were described as in need of “some” or “major” repair.
In a separate survey of all 116 Pennsylvania public-use airports, AOPA partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Aviation Advisory Committee, Bureau of Aviation, and the Aviation Council of Pennsylvania. Airport managers who responded to the hangar survey reported very strong demand for hangars. However, the state would need to build 38% more hangars to meet current demand, according to a story at AOPA.org by David Tulis.
Many of the Pennsylvania airport managers who responded to the survey said they would build new hangars, but a lack of funding has prevented them from filling the demand.
According to the AOPA Airport Support Network survey, grant availability was cited as a major impediment to new hangar construction.
Other challenges included costs associated with site development, insurance, engineering and architectural designs, and building code compliance, as well as concern about recouping the development costs at current lease rates.
Airports that have successfully developed new T-hangars and community hangars have noted a rise in airport gross revenues, increased local economic impact, and increased employment opportunities, the AOPA story notes.
You can read the full AOPA story here.
Airports with managers and county commissions who allow hangar rents to be maintained in a hangar fund and not go to county or city general revenue, soon have enough money set aside (usually 10%) to go with state and federal grant money to build a section of new T hangars. The more they have, the quicker they can build more. Valkaria Florida is a good example of a smart airport manager and a airport friendly county commission. All it takes is good management. They should teach that at the expensive aviation colleges where most of the new airport managers are coming from, who seem to be more interested in building big hangars for kerosene burners.
The so called “wait list” are for the most part garbage. The airports actually like the list to be long, it helps prove to the city or airport authority how much demand there is. But look at the list. It should be public but seldom is. It is made up of owners of planes sometimes on 3 or more list as they will take the first one that show up. Since most of the are free to be put on, once the owner finds a spot he never calls the other airports to be removed. Also sometime the owner sells his plane, never takes his name off the list. To fix this the list should require a deposit and a public list, and a written method of assigning the next hangar available. I think all of us have heard the stories of how someone jumped to the top of the list because nobody answered the phone when the hangar became available. Sorry to say the “Good old buddy” system is alive and well in this process as well. We can fix this, 1) Written Rules 2) Require Cash Deposit 3) Public access to list.
Once the list make sense we can actually tell how much demand there is. I think we are short of hangars in many places. With real data we can prove that and should be allowed to build.
I tried to build 15 tee hangars at the local municipal airport for 15 years. Every time I asked, I got put off for one BS reason or another, wait for the election, airport plan isn’t finished, we haven’t decided, on and on.
I also ran the numbers – turns out you can’t BUY the land to put “your” hangars on, you can only lease it. At the end of the lease term (20 years), you get to GIVE the building YOU paid for to the city. And guess what – you don’t get any appreciation, either!
Then you have to calculate the cost to build, cost of property taxes, maintenance, insurance, utilities, management and maybe, just maybe a slim profit, and it all has to be realized in the 20 years you own it, because after the city gets takes possession of it, you are out in the cold.
To make that work, we’re talking rents of close to $1,000 a month for a 172 sized airplane. Good luck.
Construction costs are astronomical, if the hangar is big enough to attract larger airplanes (whose owners or companies can afford the rent), you run into NFPA codes, which require sprinkler systems, big buildings need big (expensive) power doors and more, which raises the price and rent even more.
And corporate customers will want washrooms, an air conditioned office, security systems and and and, which raises the cost still further. That’s fine with them, they can write it off . . . we can’t.
Owners of smaller, less expensive (say, under $250K) aircraft and pretty much the entire EAA crowd are simply priced out of these things.
Now lets take that $1,000 a month hangar rent payment and apply it to a mortgage. At 4% for 30 years, a payment of $1,000 a month supports a loan of about $200,000 (thank you HP10B). If you were to buy at a fly-in and build a home, completed value of $500,000, your payment would be $2,390, so basically, for $1,400 a month more than hangar rent you get a home AND a hangar, which you OWN, built to your exact specifications, and you can keep it as long as you want to. When/if you do decide to sell, YOU get the appreciation.
You have to live somewhere, why shouldn’t it be at a residential fly in? Live the dream . . . 😉
For airports blocked by a lack of funding, why don’t they elicit funds from those on the waitlist. I’d be happy to chip in for new hangar space at a nearby airport. I would of course expect highly discounted lease terms. As it stands, my new to me airplane is going to have to sit a little over an hour away even though there are numerous (12+) closer airports.
The supposed “wait list” shrinks considerably when you understand the fair market value of space. Everyone wants a $150/mo box with heat, a/c, private bathrooms, electric doors, an RV hook up and sewer dump, but not many are willing to pay the $300, 400, 500, 600/mo to get the facility built(in up front costs). Having personally been down this path (built, bought, leased and sold hangars), a “wait list” is not worth the used napkin it is scribbled on.
I have delayed buying an aircraft for 2 years because of lack proper hangars space. This shortfall has real long term economic impact!
Exact same reason I have held off A/C purchase . . . No where to hangar it
kdaw lost several shed hangars to this supposed improvement
also this is why its bad to insert govt into hangars private sector would have invested years ago
kvnc has 200 on wait list but wont invest either govt or private funds in new hangars
How is it possible that GA has been in slow decline for decades, and yet there’s a shortage of hangar space?
There are certainly fewer active pilots, but the number of registered aircraft has been fairly constant at 211,000, since the 3 year re-register was in affect about 2014.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183513/number-of-aircraft-in-the-united-states-since-1990/
I ‘lucked out’ getting into a hangar ,waiting only 3 months, because I could move in immediately . The other ahead of me on the wait list could not move for months..!!
The airport that I left has a 3 year average wait time, here in Northern Calif.
In the case of several airports in my area older hangars have been torn down and not replaced with equivalent hangars. Nineteen sixties or seventies era T hangars are replaced with large private hangars or large box hangars for transient, corporate aircraft.