Oct. 3—Work to create a more convenient terminal, and add an Aldi grocery store, new hangars and an office building has started or will soon at Lancaster Airport as the facility prepares to host new flights to and from Orlando, Florida, beginning Tuesday.
The airport's 17th commercial hangar is set to open later this year, built by commercial truck dealer Transteck Inc. to house its corporate aircraft. And this summer the airport authority completed a $19.5 million, multi-year project to improve its runway.
Airport Director Ed Foster told LNP — LancasterOnline in 2022 if the airport had never-ending money, it could build hangars every day and fill them up. He said this week that funding is still the limiting factor in airport construction.
"There's only so much funding to go around statewide, and we're trying to compete for that," Foster said.
Demand for rental hangars continues to increase. There are 12 companies currently awaiting hangars at the airport, up from four in 2021.
Exactly how many hangars the roughly 900-acre airport can accommodate could be determined in the coming months. It is beginning work on a new master plan that will chart its course for future development, with input from Manheim Township and the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport is also seeking to relocate the suspected burial site of a farmer who owned the land in the 1800s.
Aldi coming soon
The discount grocery chain, which already has zoning approval for a 22,664-square-foot store located at the corner of Millport Road and Lititz Pike, has submitted land development plans which should be reviewed by the township planning commission later this year, Sharyn Young, the township's director of planning and zoning, said during the commissioners' September meeting. Foster said that project could begin in early 2025.
The commissioners amended the township zoning ordinance to allow Aldi in the airport overlay zone. Non-aeronautical revenue, such as leases from Sheetz and Penn Cinema, make up about one-third of the airport's annual $3.5 million budget. Foster said Aldi's lease will add $175,000annually, and the grocer is paying to develop the site.
Terminal improvements underway
Work is underway to create a waiting area for screened passengers inside the airport. The upgraded Transportation Security Administration checkpoint is being funded with a $2.7 million Federal Aviation Administration grant. Currently Southern Airways passengers are screened just before boarding. The screening area and new ticket counters are set to be completed by the end of the year.
The airport plans to use money left over from the grant to add a baggage carousel to serve passengers. Work will begin early next year.
Charter flights expansion OK'd
VentureJets, which has flown charters out of the airport since 1995, got final land development approval from Manheim Township last month for an additional hangar on land it leases from the airport. It would be located next to its current facility, near the intersection of Millport Road and Lititz Pike. Foster said that the project should begin in early 2025.
Matt White, a partner in VentureJets, told the commissioners in September that the 19,200-square-foot building will house planes that it currently stores in Harrisburg, and will eliminate the need for Venture Jets' pilots to drive to Harrisburg to pick up its planes.
Hangar complex, more coming
Lancaster Airport Authority hopes to build three hangars and an office building, totalling 72,290 square feet along Millport Road. Foster said they hope to have a flight school, maintenance hangar and the office building complete by the end of 2026. There is no timeline for the third, which would be for corporate jets.
Foster said the first two hangars are intended for use by Aero-Tech Services, which already provides charter flights and other aviation services at the airport.
The state has awarded the airport authority three grants totaling $5.35 million for utility and site work needed for the project and other future development on the north side of the airport. That work should begin in spring, Foster said.
LNP Correspondent Elaine J. Walmer contributed to this story
___
(c)2024 LNP (Lancaster, Pa.)
Visit LNP (Lancaster, Pa.) at lancasteronline.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
