How long are hangar waiting lists?

As others have said, it can be a long wait or your timing may be perfect. I'll add it also can depend upon who you know!! So don't get in people's face, but if you can walk around and just chat with people and let them know you're looking, you may luck out.

I lucked out when I moved from the east to west coast because good friends of mine had a local friend that was regretfully dealing with her brother's estate... which included two hangars. Being a friend, I jumped to the top of the list since she had no real connection to the airport or any of the people there. So you never know.

One other issue. Most airports now are cracking down on aviation use only. So maybe not immediately, but you're going to need to put a plane in the hangar relatively soon once you get one.
 
I attended a hangar tenants meeting this morning at SBY, Salisbury, Maryland. Inheard they have some hangar availability. I have a nice T-hangar for my Ercoupe there. It’s a nice facility, armstrong doors, but reasonable prices. The FBO is Azure, new to the field last July and doing a wonderful job. SBY is an easy drive to the beach.
 
AvNavCom said:
...I was just offered a hangar. It's a two-hour drive from my house, but relatively close to my folks, so I'll probably take it until something closer pops up.
Click to expand...
This thread popping up again reminded me that I didn't follow up the above. Weirdly, the day after I was offered that hangar at ESN, I got a hangar at HWY due to feeding people donuts.

It turned out that my mechanic shop had a couple of hangars which they sublet. I had established friendly relations by virtue of being polite, friendly, understanding, and particularly by showing up periodically with large boxes of good quality donuts as a gesture of appreciation for their helping me out on short notice with a variety of minor issues. When one of their tenants decided to leave, they gave me a call and said "we thought of you and wondered if you'd be interested". Yes, dear reader, yes I was. I signed a lease that same day and my baby was moved in that weekend.

About a month later, HWY announced a complete overhaul of their hangar policies, including elimination of subletting and requiring all hangars to contain either active aircraft or an aircraft build which was showing clear signs of reasonable progress. My shop decided against keeping the hangar and the airport manager decided that the aircraft currently occupying any given hangar would have priority for signing the new lease. I did inquire whether the management wanted me to exit the hangar given that I was skipping the line due to dumb luck, but they said I could stay since I was already there. Felt kinda bad, but hard to give up a roof.

And that, friends, is how I got a hangar due to donuts, good relationships, and lucky timing.

I still remain on the HEF list. Way closer to my house (10 min vs 30 min) but less of a community, I feel. Genuinely not sure what I'll do if they call.
 
N918KT said:
I know I am getting way ahead of myself
Click to expand...
Maybe not. Get on the waiting lists for the airports around Philly even if you don't own an airplane. Pull a random airplane off the FAA Registry if you have to. It could take 5 yrs. Monitor those lists. There is often lots of hanky-panky with waiting lists. You want to show you are watching and make friends with A/P managers. Join EAA Chapters around you. They usually know what is going on with hangars. Find chapters at EAA.org. If you get an airplane, buy a "walking foot" industrial sewing machine ($500-$1000) and learn to sew. I have made full airplane covers out of heavy vinyl truck-tarp material and lighter Sunbrella starting from craft-paper patterns. Paint jobs are horrendously expensive and a cover will do about as well as a hangar to preserve your precious paint. Good luck.
 
When I bought my fabric covered airplane in 2013, I really didn't want to leave it outside and there were long waiting lists for hangar rentals at all airports near my home. I found a gentleman on a private airpark that built a very large hangar next to his home, but only had 1 plane in it. He graciously agreed to rent me space in his hangar and I was able to get my plane indoors immediately. There are lots of ways to get your plane out of the weather, you just have to be creative.
 
An important thing to understand is that hangar waiting lists are just a list of people who have expressed interest in renting a hangar. The manager then selects from that list in any way they see fit, or selects somebody who is not even on the list. Therefore being known by the manager or other ‘plugged in’ tenants may get you on the hot track to a hangar, especially if you’re well liked. Having a pretty plane also helps.

That’s the real world. It’s only partially about business.
 
Tusayan said:
The manager then selects from that list in any way they see fit, or selects somebody who is not even on the list.
Click to expand...

I concede that is frequently the case but public, federally-assisted airport sponsors give "Assurances" to the FAA that they will "not unjustly discriminate" against aeronautical operators. See Assurance 22. Arbitrarily picking hangar tenants sounds like unjust discrimination to me but it is hard to enforce if the sponsor can show that two operators were not equally qualified and there was some valid reason for favoring one over others. Best thing you can do is monitor waiting lists and complain to the sponsor, then complain under Part 13. Yeah, it is mostly futile but sponsors and the FAA need to hear these complaints. I would like to see a manager justify it by saying "Operator X brought us donuts." :-)
 
I have lived in 4 different places with a plane, all had several year's long waiting lists.

British Columbia: I was outside for about 4 months and then got into a hangar.
Saskatchewan: I was outside for about 2 months and then got into a hangar.
Ontario: I was outside for 3 months and then got into a hangar.
Texas: I was outside for 1 month, then got into a "shade hangar" in which I was for 6 months (which was almost worse than just being tied down on the ramp to be honest) and then got into an enclosed hangar.

Again, in each of those places, I was told it'll be years before I get into a hangar. It never did. I started meeting people, talking to people, and something opened up quicker every single time.
 
AvNavCom said:
About a month later, HWY announced a complete overhaul of their hangar policies, including elimination of subletting and requiring all hangars to contain either active aircraft or an aircraft build which was showing clear signs of reasonable progress. My shop decided against keeping the hangar and the airport manager decided that the aircraft currently occupying any given hangar would have priority for signing the new lease. I did inquire whether the management wanted me to exit the hangar given that I was skipping the line due to dumb luck, but they said I could stay since I was already there. Felt kinda bad, but hard to give up a roof.
Click to expand...
This is what CJR did about 10 or 15 years ago. I had my plane in a friends hangar on a sublease (her husband had a non-flying Stinson 108 in there he was working on but when he died and she sold the project, I asked her to keep the hangar for me). I'd been in there a couple of years when the airport held a meeting saying they were getting rid of subleases. I was real nervous. Turns out the same rule. Whoever was in there on January 1 (with small exception) when they inventoried the hangars for property tax purposes, got the new lease. That was fine with me (and my lessor).

What had been an immobile waiting list suddenly started to move again (that and they built a few more hangars). The same friend then decided she wanted to put her plane in a hangar again was able to get one in relatively short order (couple of months).
 
GoFly said:
RyanB- How often do you find people using long held hangars for all things except housing aircraft? I’ve seen multiple campers, motorcycles, collector cars, and such in hangars without a plane in sight.
Click to expand...
This infuriates me. I was originally on multiple waiting lists as my airport has both both Airport Authority and Private hangars for rent on the field. I had kept my airplane at a shade port while waiting and every time I drove through the hangar area, I would see old cars, boxes of retail items, everything you can imagine BUT an airplane parked in multiple hangars on any give day. There should absolutely be a requirement that to have a hangar you must own and park a plane in the hangar. And further, if found using a hangar for something other than parking an airplane, you should immediately lose your lease.
 
BigghHauss78 said:
This infuriates me. I was originally on multiple waiting lists as my airport has both both Airport Authority and Private hangars for rent on the field. I had kept my airplane at a shade port while waiting and every time I drove through the hangar area, I would see old cars, boxes of retail items, everything you can imagine BUT an airplane parked in multiple hangars on any give day. There should absolutely be a requirement that to have a hangar you must own and park a plane in the hangar. And further, if found using a hangar for something other than parking an airplane, you should immediately lose your lease.
Click to expand...
At my airport, someone observed this and apparently complained to the FAA, who got on airport management to launch hangar inspections, etc.
 
In the early 1990s I sought a hangar at 3MY. The authoritys manager, a certain Sol B__raj, Atty @ Law, wouldn't even answer me.

So I sent a proposal to build, on a 20 year reversion lease (what they were using at the time), a BANK of T -hangars, with all the engineering work done (including pad). He ignored me. So I sent it to each member of the authority board. That got him going. He was screaming at me that was trying to circumvent him.

I replied, "you are not serving the taxpayers: Should you desire, i'd would be happy to discuss this in the Journal Star (Newspaper)". I got a hangar the next day.

***
But seriously, vertical development is getting near impossible. Even with Covid funds, the price of a 60 x 60 box is over $1 Mil. Why? Up-rated codes and fire suppression. And, an unresponsive State bureaucracy which retards anything. Welcome to Illinois.

B
 
Last edited:
bbchien said:
Welcome to Illinois.
Click to expand...
Ill-and-annoy.

Can confirm. The amount of hoops I'm having to jump through for an 80x125 industrial building is stupid. Everything from exterior appearance down to sprinklers. Requiring minimum amount of parking spaces... It's my business on my property. Who are you to say how many parking spaces I need? I don't have city water available. So I have to have a sprinkler system independent of the well. The building itself would cost 350k. The sprinkler system is going to be 150k.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I have lived in 4 different places with a plane, all had several year's long waiting lists.

British Columbia: I was outside for about 4 months and then got into a hangar.
Saskatchewan: I was outside for about 2 months and then got into a hangar.
Ontario: I was outside for 3 months and then got into a hangar.
Texas: I was outside for 1 month, then got into a "shade hangar" in which I was for 6 months (which was almost worse than just being tied down on the ramp to be honest) and then got into an enclosed hangar.

Again, in each of those places, I was told it'll be years before I get into a hangar. It never did. I started meeting people, talking to people, and something opened up quicker every single time.
Click to expand...
Why was the shade hangar almost worse than the ramp? I'm on a tiedown right now but have an opportunity to get a shade hangar while I wait for a T hangar. Shade hangar is $200/mo vs. my tiedown which is I believe $80. Coastal FL
 
Fullerton airport KFUL now says the wait will be at least 10 years for a t-hangar. People just hang onto them for life, even if they stop flying. I think there is enthusiasm (and private money) to build covered tiedowns, but there is no response from admin other than warnings that it will be very difficult if not impossible to get through all the approvals needed. Time to invest in a new, good quality Bruce Custom Cover.
 
For me, it depends on how you count the years, but it took me 12 years to get a private T-hangar in CT. But sometimes it just works out. Prior to 2014, I had a wing-folding ultralight in an enclosed trailer on a tiedown spot. In 2014, I got a "covered tiedown" with almost no wait when I bought my first biplane. Winter meant brushing the snow that blew in off the plane. 2 planes later in 2018 I got a space in a large shared hangar with 4 other planes (but the 3 in the back never flew, so it was OK). I would point out that I'd had a plane (intermittently) on the airport since 1986. Finally in late 2025 I got my own T-hangar, just in time for some major work on the plane where it would be very inconvenient to be in a shared hanger if my plane needed to be moved. That coincided with the airport's push to kick people without planes out of their hangars, which opened up several hangars.

I think a lot of airports have a "waiting list" but often it's really a matter of who you know and happening to be in the office when somebody moves out. I've seen friends of airport owners get hangars immediately with no wait while others wait for years.
 
I was lucky and waited about 5 days at my class D airport. Most of that was just phone call tag. It’s a T hangar and perfect for my needs. I think the average is 2-3 months I just got lucky
 
I have two hangars, one PDK in Atlanta and one @SGJ (St Augustine). I am the original tenant of the hanger at PDK, which was new 14 years ago. As I understand it, there is something like a 10 year waitlist there. At Saint Augustine, I am also the original tenant of a new hangar which was opened up about six or seven years ago. I had my own hangar there for several years prior to that and subleased (subleasing is no longer permitted) another hanger before that. I believe it was 2015 or 2016 before I got my own hanger at SGJ, and it was on the waitlist for about 3 1/2 years. They just built new hangars at SGJ, but last I heard the waitlist there is about three or four years or so, which is not too bad for a very popular GA airport in a very popular spot.
 
A 29 year old T hangar unit (1 of 10 in the building) just sold at my airport for $165,000. The lease for the ground from the city is for another 39 years. There are no empty hangars out of a total of near 170 units. The waiting list is years at least.
 
So, would we rather have long waiting lists, or “whatever the market will bare” rental/purchase costs? Honestly, I can see pros and cons either way.

I recently saw a municipal airport do an “auction” for monthly lease on a hangar. Ie “tell us how much you’re willing to pay/mo” and whoever bids most wins!

There were 2 available hangars (I think 40x40) and they went for $2000 and $3000 respectively if I recall…
 
I don't support "whatever the market will bare" as that will certainly make hangars unaffordable for most of us. But a little more rigorous enforcement of existing rules would help. As long as hangars are cheaper than regular storage space, people will keep using hangars for junk storage years beyond when they stop flying. There are hangars here that are packed solid, right up to the sliding door, with junk (old fridges, bikes, parts, boxes etc.). Maybe an outreach at local club meetings to bring up how long the wait lists are, and how this discourages new plane purchases etc. (some tenents may not even be aware of how dire the situation is).
 
When I was at CJR, the hangar list never moved. There were lots of people who held hangars that were subleasing them to others. I got a hangar from a friend whose husband had a Stinson project in there. When he died and she sold the project, I told her not to turn in the hangar, I'd lease it from her.

About two years into that, the airport management said "enough." No more subleasing. I was a bit nervous that I would be kicked out, but their method was to send the new hangar lease to whoever's plane was in the hangar on January 1. They already looked in the hangar on that day to hit people up for persoanl property tax.

Suddenly, in the absence of subleasing, the hangar wait list became manageable. Oddly enough, the woman that I was subleasing from within a year got another hangar to put her 170 in (it had been tied down at IAD for a while).
 
flyingron said:
About two years into that, the airport management said "enough." No more subleasing. I was a bit nervous that I would be kicked out, but their method was to send the new hangar lease to whoever's plane was in the hangar on January 1. They already looked in the hangar on that day to hit people up for persoanl property tax.
Click to expand...
HWY did the same thing. Eliminated sub-letting and gave the lease option to whomever owned the plane in the hangar. Certainly moved the list a bit.
 
The list @ my Home Drome is Loooong,They are just starting to request evidence of current annual and Insurance to keep the hanger.
This has generated a lot of unrest and consternation.

There are a couple of projects ongoing but they are worked on weekly

I've been there about 15yrs and honestly there are at least 10 planes that have never been out of the hanger since I've been there.
 
2-3 years at Prescott, AZ (sooner if you find a private owner willing to sublease).

The Port-a-Port hangars with 17 years left have recently sold for 75-90k.
 
Four months at Cable Airport (KCCB), a Los Angeles suburb. Nearby Brackett Field (KPOC) had availability immediately, at reasonable rates, but I am wary of dealing with Los Angeles County owned airports based on long experience doing so. Much of the productive class is immigrating out of California so that might be one reason availability is reasonable.
 
So tell me this. Why cant airports build new hangars since there is such a high demand? They have the land..... plenty of it.
I have been on the list for many many tears at Ryan's airport and am still waiting. Bug him every now and then. :)
 
Aviatordoc said:
So tell me this. Why cant airports build new hangars since there is such a high demand? They have the land..... plenty of it.
I have been on the list for many many tears at Ryan's airport and am still waiting. Bug him every now and then. :)
Click to expand...
Great question. Along those lines, why can't El Monte airport (KEMT - near L.A.) figure out how to start selling fuel again like they did until recently for about the last 90 years (+/- whatever). At this busy towered urban airport, there is now only one fuel provider, an FBO (Billionaire), and by truck delivery only. What do the employees and managers of L.A. County airports think they are there for? To collect paychecks and pensions?

I can't say for sure if we are talking about deliberate neglect motivated by politicians bent on closing airports and eyeing airport land for pet projects, or simple incompetence. However, a common factor, between Hemet-Ryan and El Monte and many other small airports, is local government ownership. I don't think many publicly owned airports are particularly what one would call "customer-service" oriented. That tends to be an alien concept to government even if it leads to actual net income. I will grant, some fine exceptions do exist!
 
Last edited:
Florida has solved the hangar problem, monthly rent has more than doubled since 2020 in many airports. Can be as much as $12-20k per year. And you thought airplanes were expensive?
 
Aviatordoc said:
So tell me this. Why cant airports build new hangars since there is such a high demand? They have the land..... plenty of it.
Click to expand...
If you go back through the thread, you'll find some educated folks have provided the answer: the math doesn't pencil out for what people are willing to pay. Hangar construction costs are evidently exorbitant and land-leases short enough that unless people are dropping $1500+/mo on hangar rent, the construction won't pay for itself in any reasonable timeframe.

I remain an advocate of shade-hangars, since they can at least provide basic shelter and can be wired for lights/electricity at a presumably cheaper construction cost. Apparently even these basic structures have a formidable capital investment requirement, though.

I do think that rigorous enforcement of hangars to ensure they contain an actively inspected and flying aircraft, or at least an experimental project making meaningful progress, would do wonders for both airfield activity, fuel sales, and the hangar waiting list. Eliminating sub-letting would also remove some of the shenanigans.
 
AvNavCom said:
If you go back through the thread, you'll find some educated folks have provided the answer: the math doesn't pencil out for what people are willing to pay. Hangar construction costs are evidently exorbitant and land-leases short enough that unless people are dropping $1500+/mo on hangar rent, the construction won't pay for itself in any reasonable timeframe.

I remain an advocate of shade-hangars, since they can at least provide basic shelter and can be wired for lights/electricity at a presumably cheaper construction cost. Apparently even these basic structures have a formidable capital investment requirement, though.

I do think that rigorous enforcement of hangars to ensure they contain an actively inspected and flying aircraft, or at least an experimental project making meaningful progress, would do wonders for both airfield activity, fuel sales, and the hangar waiting list. Eliminating sub-letting would also remove some of the shenanigans.
Click to expand...
I understand what you are saying about ROI for the county. But think of this. WHat is the ROI for the entire airport for them? Airport is a service to the taxpayer not a money maker.
 
Aviatordoc said:
I have been on the list for many many tears at Ryan's airport and am still waiting.
Click to expand...
Is it really worth crying over? :biggrin:
Aviatordoc said:
WHat is the ROI for the entire airport for them? Airport is a service to the taxpayer not a money maker.
Click to expand...
Problem is, the taxpayers don't see it as a service to them but to the "fat cats with airplanes".
AvNavCom said:
I remain an advocate of shade-hangars, since they can at least provide basic shelter and can be wired for lights/electricity at a presumably cheaper construction cost.
Click to expand...
They're better than nothing, but depending on where you are they provide only limited protection. When I was in one I worried with every hurricane that passed through, and in the winter...

1785843224914.jpeg
These were once T-hangars, but the airport had so much trouble with the doors that when they built new hangars they just took the doors off the old ones and called them "covered tiedowns".

One airport near me allows people to put up fabric hangars, which are a lot more reasonably priced. Some people pour concrete slabs for them (which obviously raises the cost a lot) and some just live with the dirt floor.
 
I was on our hangar waitlist for 10 years.
Finally got one, but only because my parking spot was destroyed for construction and there was a clause in my lease saying the airport had to provide an alternative parking spot, so they bumped me to the top of the list. Oddly… there were three hangars to choose from. They’ll have to pry this hangar from the cold, dead, hands of my great-grandchildren.
 
Aviatordoc said:
I understand what you are saying about ROI for the county. But think of this. WHat is the ROI for the entire airport for them? Airport is a service to the taxpayer not a money maker.
Click to expand...

The average taxpaying voter doesn't give two wits about the airport and its service, especially for general aviation. They want parks, they want streets, they want fire and police protection, most don't even know their town has an airport unless it has commercial service. And they certainly aren't willing to invest in hangars so "wealthy" airplane owners can have cheap hangar rent. In some cases cheaper than the local mini storage is charging them!
 
I waited two and half years for a hanger... now that I have one, they are going to tear them down.

They say they'll be building new ones for those of us that are being displaced. But, if they are similar to the recent build, I don't need a 60' X 40' X 30' box to house a 152..
 
Caldwell KCDW NJ - rates $860/month over $1,100 for the large.

Thank you for your interest in our t-hangars. I have put you on the small t-hangar waiting list as you requested. You are currently number 249 on the list. Approximate wait time on the small list right now is 6 years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top