Lauren and Cat Stevens of Long Beach, California, are known as the “Hangar Sisters.” Together, the 21- and 24-year-old siblings run a business that also goes by that name, which unsurprisingly is involved with the management of hangar space. The two have found a way to share their efforts with a larger sphere of people than just those at the airport.
“We are pretty big into social media,” Lauren said. “We have an Instagram page, @hangarsisters, and we started it to connect with our family. Everyone was wondering, especially on my mom’s side, who aren’t big into aviation, what we do at the airport. It has been such a great way to connect with our family, rather than having a big group text or something like that.”
Prior to the sisters’ foray into Instagram, the popular social sharing app was largely devoid of content related to hangars. The pair’s success on the platform can, in part, be attributed to the type of aviation content they share.
“Our videos are mainly of us pulling the planes out and the actual plane itself with music added,” said Lauren, who studied marketing and communications in college. “One of our videos blew up and has about 38,000 likes now, and we have over 20,000 followers. “It’s cool to introduce social media into this world. And it’s really exciting for us because we get to combine the things we like to do.”
But before starting her coursework, Lauren was uncertain whether she would pursue a career in aviation—even though she grew up in a family of aviators. Both of her parents, as well as her paternal grandparents, are pilots. The sisters regularly flew with them as children. Additionally, their father was also involved in the business side of aviation, starting Plane Fax, a marketing and aircraft history solutions provider, long before his daughters were born.
“I was getting super-involved, and then right when I was getting into my pilot journey, my dad unfortunately passed away in September of 2019.” she said. “My sister and I took a break from everything, and I honestly didn’t ever know whether I would ever be able to be in an airplane again as a pilot, nor be a part of the industry because we were so close with him, and it was such a tough thing to go through.”
A conversation with her mother in the middle of 2021 inspired Lauren to return to the cockpit. Now, she has her private pilot certificate and Cat is a student pilot.
“I was talking with my mom, and I felt really inspired to try a flight lesson again.,” Lauren said. “Then I met my instructor, who is amazing, and I was flying a lot with her. That’s when everything started clicking, and then Cat and I started running Plane Fax together.
“Our office is actually located in our hangar at Long Beach Airport (KLGB), which we have the master lease on. We’ve always been around hangars our whole lives, storing my dad’s planes or whatnot. But that’s when we started diving into the storage of airplanes and how this real estate works in this type of space.”
The sisters’ current long-term tenants include a light jet, turboprop, and two pistons.
“We started ‘Hangar Sisters’ in November of 2022 but have been running the hangar for quite some time,” Lauren said. “Sometimes we will have other planes that aren’t as long term, but that’s how we have our business structured. It’s not just someone that comes in and out for the night. Sometimes we have tenants that are on a month or two lease, but some we’ve had for over five years. It really just depends, but we are always willing to work with someone that wants to do something short term, but it’s usually at least a month [term].”
Not only are the sisters responsible for keeping the hangar full, but they are also active in its daily operations.
“Cat and I actually pull the planes in and out of the hangar and have a couple of tugs,” Lauren said. “So, we do that, manage detailing with detailers, and we work with any contract maintenance that needs to come in and work on the planes as well. Then we do order the fuel for our customers, but we can’t sell fuel at the Long Beach Airport ourselves.”
The sisters’ can-do attitude has proven to be a valuable asset in building relationships with aviators at the airport.
“Something that I’ve noticed about this industry is that it moves so quickly, and we seem to forget about the best part, which is the people,” Lauren said. “You meet so many people, whether it’s a pilot, someone working on the plane, or its owner. It’s hard to call them a ‘customer’ sometimes because I feel like everyone that we work with now has almost become part of our family. We really value relationships because it’s what makes what we do so fun.”
With decades in the industry to look forward to, the sisters have a long runway ahead of them. Regardless of how their aviation career progresses, Lauren said its foundation is rooted in aviation real estate.
“An aspect of the industry that Cat and I really appreciate is that there are so many different avenues,” she said. “And since we are so fresh in our careers, it’s a really exciting time for us, and nothing is out of the question. We have noticed that as we grow our network, opportunities start to unfold. Something that is really exciting for us is aircraft sales, expanding our business, acquiring more hangars, and even possibly chartering. As I continue my pilot career, as well as my sister, I am interested in possibly doing some contract flying.
“I really feel like the world is our oyster at this point, and it’s super exciting. We really are loving what we are doing, so we feel very lucky. It’s a tragic situation obviously, losing our dad, but what we have turned it into has been something so special, and we just know that he is so happy looking down on us.”
