A new, large corporate aircraft hangar is coming to the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington next fall, the airport announced Tuesday.
The hangar will be 50,000 square-feet and feature 30-foot-high doors, large enough to accommodate business jets as big as the Gulfstream G700 and Global Express 7500/8000 platforms. The airport said the hangar will be big enough to house the longest and largest corporate aircraft on the market.
“Blue Grass Airport is committed to advancing its private aviation facilities to meet the evolving needs of the aviation community,” said President & CEO of Blue Grass Airport Eric Frankl in a news release. “This new hangar represents a significant step forward in that effort.”
The door heights of the current hangars at Blue Grass Airport range from 12-24 feet, according to Amy Caudill, vice president of marketing and community relations for the airport.
“With a 30-foot height door, it gives us access to get any type of aircraft in there, and that is rare to see hangars like that available throughout the country,” Caudill said. “Those hangars definitely exist but the demand is so high that typically they fill up very quickly.”
The hangar will be built by Denham-Blythe Company. Denham-Blythe has over 40 years of experience and has completed more than 10,000 projects in the United States and Mexico for local startup companies to Fortune 500 companies, the airport said.
Construction on the new hangar is scheduled to begin in October 2023. The project is expected to cost $15.5 million, according to the airport.
“We look forward to providing our corporate aviation partners with an exceptional facility with the utmost conveniences,” Frankl said in a press release.
Caudill said the airport will start looking for tenants for the new hangar at a later time. The hangar will also include associated offices, storage spaces and vehicle parking.
It’s common for airports the size of Blue Grass Airport to have a waitlist of tenants looking for hangar space, and the new hangar is expected to be in high demand. There are currently 96 hangars at Blue Grass Airport, and private aviation accounts for approximately 70% of total takeoffs and landing at the airport, according to Caudill.
“We are usually in a situation where there is more demand than what most airports can keep up with,” Caudill said.
Caudill also said it’s important for the airport to serve as a gateway for businesses looking to relocate to central Kentucky.
“Air service plays an essential role in economic development for our region and is often a question that arises when corporations are exploring a move to Kentucky,” Caudill said.
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