Large-Aircraft Hangar Shortage on Burner at TEB Meeting

The increasing size of high-end business jets and the shortage of hangar space in the New York metropolitan area to accommodate them revealed itself as a growing concern at a recent Aviation Professionals Sharing Information (APSI) meeting held in a hangar at Jet Aviation’s Teterboro Airport facility. Against the backdrop of a Bombardier Global, APSI president Victoria Reina-Duffy, vice president of sales for Priester Aviation, noted that popular business aviation airports in the area such as Teterboro (TEB) and Westchester County (HPN) are currently at 150 percent of capacity, with many hangars in the region unable to accommodate the newest ultra-long-range corporate jets. “I understand in other parts of the country it’s not as big an issue, but these big airplanes are coming to our part of the country,” Bill Beversluis, Jet Aviation’s vice president of aircraft management, told the gathering.

“As soon as Gulfstream announced it was going to build the G650, I started getting up on my soapbox, asking where the industry would store such aircraft," said Beversluis. “The [Bombardier] Global 7000 is going to be 111 feet long; where we are going to put that thing I have no idea, and when you spend $75- to $80 million for an airplane, having it sit outside does not particularly sit well with people.”

As international trade becomes more and more global, the large-cabin jet segment has propped up the business jet industry for the past several years. “We have owners who have Citation Xs or the small Challengers; these are the ones who are coming to us saying ‘I’m going to replace that and I need a big Global,’” said Todd Anderson, senior vice president of real estate and development for Sheltair, which operates several FBOs in the region. “No problem, we have plenty of room for it? That’s not the answer.”

Adding to the crunch on hangar space is the popularity of winglets on most modern business jets, effectively eliminating wing-over-wing storage. “Where you used to be able to stack a hangar with airplanes closer than you would normally like, that doesn’t happen any more,” Beversluis noted.

While more distant airports stand to benefit from owners willing to reposition their aircraft when needed, such concessions come with drawbacks as well. If a crew has to arrive at a distant airport and position the aircraft to Metro New York locations, that time eats into a crew’s duty day. “When you are taking delivery of these aircraft you want them to be able to be used to their full capacity,” said Reina-Duffy. “It’s not going to do anybody any good if you are going to cut the range of the aircraft by two hours,” with the disruption of the duty day.

For many business jet users that’s not a palatable option, and one seemingly at odds with the freedom, utility and ease of access that business aviation provides. “You worry about flight departments going away,” said Westchester County Airport manager Peter Scherrer. “That’s the biggest concern. If they can’t get space, after a while they say, ‘Why should I have a flight department? It’s too much work, too expensive, maybe I’ll go to a fractional operator or I’ll charter an airplane.’ A flight department is supposed to be easy. You see a lot of them closing because it gets too complicated.”

Beversluis also believes the shortage of hangar space could eventually have a deleterious effect on the industry. “What is happening could eventually put us in jeopardy not only to sell airplanes but also to fly them and manage them.” He imagines that the mere fact an aircraft is based at TEB or HPN could boost its attractiveness to buyers who could possibly assume its hangar lease.

Time-consuming Process

Some companies, among them Sheltair, which co-sponsored the APSI gathering along with Jet Aviation, have space to improve their local facilities. The Florida-based company manages more than 3.5 million sq ft of aviation properties in New York, Florida and Georgia.

“Building a hangar is not something that just takes six to eight months; it takes a lot of planning, a lot of time and a lot of financial resources,” said Anderson. “We’ve gotten to the point now where we can’t build them fast enough.” His company recently broke ground on a 41-acre project at Long Island’s Republic Airport, which will eventually yield more than 300,000 sq ft of hangar space. The environmental permitting process alone for the expansion spanned six years. Sheltair is also ready to begin development on a 25-acre parcel at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, and plans to build another 55,000 sq ft of hangars at Francis S. Gabreski Airport on the eastern end of Long Island.  “Bigger airplanes need bigger facilities,” noted Anderson. “The cost to build these facilities in 2015 is much more than it was 20 to 25 years ago; sometimes there’s sticker shock for people who own these big airplanes over what rent you really need to make this hangar work financially.”

Westchester County Airport is currently undergoing a rework of its master plan, one that eventually will earmark more land for hangar development, Scherrer told AIN, adding that the list of proposed plans has been winnowed to a handful with input from airport users. After the airport officials determine the best course of action, politicians will get involved before an environmental impact study is launched. Once a plan is agreed, the new parcels will be put through the request-for-proposal process for development, all of which adds up to a number of years before any additional hangar space will be available at the airport. “I would love to see more jobs, more opportunities for businesses to come to Westchester,” said Scherrer. “Going through the whole process takes time, and you find that with every single airport. It doesn’t just happen tomorrow.”