Airport Hangars In Short Supply Across The State

Hangar space is in short supply at airports across the state, including those in the Upper Cumberland.

Greg Livingston is the Director of Operations at the Crossville Airport. He said their facility has had a waiting list for about two years.

“We seem to be getting more people that want to fly and more airplanes are coming into the area,” Livingston said. “If you look at the housing market more people are moving here, the people that are moving here can afford more expensive houses and bring their airplanes and stuff like that.”

Livingston said they are currently building four hangars to try and create more space. He said since the FAA gave more money from ticket taxes to larger airports, it’s been harder to keep up with maintenance and growth at smaller airports.

“In the price of your ticket you paid X amount in tax, and that tax went to the maintenance and upkeep and improvements of the airports,” Livingston said.

“Well, most of that money for years and years went to small airports because we had no way of getting remodeled and getting improvements and larger airports like Nashville could afford to do it out of pocket or just did. Well, a couple of years ago the large airports came in and said ‘Hey, we’re paying all of this money in tax, we should get some of it back,’ and the FAA agreed.”

Jackson County’s airport is also trying to create more hangars. Manager Jim Young said they are in the process of building 10 hangars through an FAA grant. He said right now, most hangars cost about $100,000 to construct.