APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A new general aviation hangar is helping the Appleton International Airport (ATW) soar higher.
Officials gathered Tuesday for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of its federally-funded $7.4 million hangar. Construction began on the project last June.
“It’s super exciting. It takes a lot of coordination, planning. Obviously, a hangar doesn’t pop up overnight,” said Cody Gustafson, general manager of the Appleton Flight Center. “It takes about a year or two, depending on the size and making sure everything is up to code and what we want it to be as a hangar to enhance our guest experience.”
Gustafson said the new 31,000 square-foot hangar has a door height of 28 feet and is built to accommodate general and corporate aircraft. He said it will draw more business and traffic to the Appleton airport.
General aviation has been on the rise at a steady 3-4% percent year over year. We have corporations that come to conduct their business here in the Fox Valley and surrounding areas and when they bring their own aircraft, they want to go somewhere where they’re going to be treated with the service level they expect. Again, having a brand new hangar — and a hangar large enough to accommodate any of their aircraft — is a big step forward for us.
Gustafson said ATW has two other hangars that are about three times smaller than the new one, adding they are full every day.
“We don’t like to tell people, ‘No, we don’t have space’ so with the addition of this hangar, we will definitely be able to continue to say ‘yes’ more to our guests and make them choose to come here and park their airplane,” Gustafson said.
ATW says the new hangar will be particularly important to manage increased airplane traffic from EAA in Oshkosh and the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay.
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