The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the business aviation industry in many ways, and one of the overlooked effects is the supply of sufficient hangar space. With rising values of private aircraft, some decades-old aircraft that would have previously been retired are now more commonly being used, as long as they are safe and airworthy. Additionally, with the demand continuing to climb, OEMs have not slowed their production of new aircraft. As these new aircraft enter the market and begin flying alongside aircraft already in the skies, they also compete with those existing aircraft for hangar space.
Of the 712 new business jet deliveries in 2022, the U.S. accounted for just over 400 of those. As new models are developed by the OEMs, business aircraft also continue to get larger and more efficient, resulting in an outlook in the years and decades to come of an overall footprint size of active business aircraft continuing to grow. The average business jet aircraft has a footprint of approximately 5,000 sq. ft. today, so it would take 2 million sq. ft. of new hangar space just to accommodate what is being produced and delivered by the OEMs domestically each year. This would be the equivalent of 80 hangars of 25,000 sq. ft. or more needing to be constructed this year alone to accommodate those new aircraft, but currently less than 20 hangars of that size are being built across the U.S.
Tail heights of long-range aircraft have continued to increase over the past several decades as well. Today some of the best hangars built 20-30 years ago are now insufficient with their 24–25-foot doors when 28 feet is the new standard to accommodate the tallest business jets. Given the rising costs of development, including increasing costs in materials and labor, rising interest rates, etc., the number of sufficiently sized corporate hangars being built is more likely to decrease rather than increase to meet this demand.
As was the case pre-COVID, large markets continue to draw the greatest amount of business aviation traffic, and Jet Access continues to strategically focus on some of the largest markets to help fight the current and upcoming hangar shortages. Within the last year, Jet Access completed construction on large-scale corporate hangars in Nashville (XNX) and Indianapolis (MQJ) and continues to develop in the Dallas market (RBD) with construction of a new FBO/Hangar complex scheduled to be completed in late 2023 or early 2024.
If you are interested in learning about hangar availability at Jet Access FBOs, please contact Ryan Hamilton, director of business development, at rhamilton@flyja.com.
