Hangars Are For Aircraft

One of the battlefields for continued airport existence is the use or misuse of hangars by the airport residents. A common argument cited by airports to justify their existence is the airports economic benefit. To document that economic benefit, airport tenants are shown to provide both direct (rent, fuel, taxes, etc.) and indirect (promoting business, transportation hub, etc.) revenue. If tenants simply store stuff in their hangars, neither of those purposes is served very well. To compound that problem, federal funds to build those hangars are predicated on aviation use to promote, you know, flying.

Frank Bowlin

Sunday, November 02, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Airports struggle to justify their economic benefit and federal funding when hangars are used for non-aviation storage rather than active aircraft operations.
Past strict FAA guidelines prohibiting non-aviation uses (even building planes or comfort items) have created tension between airports seeking revenue and tenants desiring multi-purpose hangars.
The FAA is now working with aviation groups to develop more user-friendly rules that permit incidental non-aviation use, so long as active aircraft housing remains the primary purpose.

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One of the battlefields for continued airport existence is the use or misuse of hangars by the airport residents. A common argument cited by airports to justify their existence is the airport’s economic benefit. To document that economic benefit, airport tenants are shown to provide both direct (rent, fuel, taxes, etc.) and indirect (promoting business, transportation hub, etc.) revenue. If tenants simply store stuff in their hangars, neither of those purposes is served very well. To compound that problem, federal funds to build those hangars are predicated on aviation use to promote, you know, flying.

So, to reinforce the local community restrictions on non-aviation uses in the hangars, the FAA got into the act a few years back and set some sweeping and rather draconian hangar usage guidelines. One reading of those rules prohibits a comfy sofa on which you and a flying friend can enjoy an adult beverage from the refrigerator in your hangar. Also, building an airplane in a hangar was found to be outside of the principle that hangars are solely for aircraft and those items that are directly required to keep (not get) them flying.