Wittman Regional Airport PC: Fox 11 Online
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The plan for a hangar project at Wittman Regional Airport is moving forward.
Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz signed a resolution authorizing a 47-acre lease with Volare Hangars Wednesday.
“We’re happy. I mean, we have a great airport. We used to have commercial aviation here. It has the capacity obviously for AirVenture, but we still think it has so much potential,” Hintz said.
Volare Hangars, based in Arizona, will lease the space to house 100 hangars and related facilities.
The county is leasing the space to Volare for 50 years, which means no cost for taxpayers.
According to the agreement, it would generate just over $700 thousand annually in county revenue.
The addition of the hangars would bring in new revenue for the county by attracting new pilots, jobs, businesses and visitors from all over the world.
“Getting folks in that are not only storing aircraft for a variety of different purposes and a variety of different needs, but also creating jobs, creating more workforce in the aviation world right here in Winnebago County, in the Fox Valley,” said Airport Director Jim Schell.
The airport currently has around 200 aircraft on site. That breaks down to about 170 hangars for those aircraft.
Adding 102 new hangars would not only raise capacity for storage, but for businesses to set up shop.
“We’ve been targeting quite a few different sectors of the aviation world to bring new business into Oshkosh, to bring into our airport for a number of years,” Schell explained. “And what Volare is going to provide is the actual facilities that those businesses would like to operate out of.”
Basler Flight Service currently runs out of Wittman. It provides supply and fuel to customers.
General Manager Justin Rust says the new hangars have been a long time coming.
“For us, it was patiently waiting because it does drive more revenue for us coming in to the area. Not just the two weeks out of the year where we have our big AirVenture which we appreciate, but also the 50 weeks beyond that as well,” Rust explained.
Volare is expected to officially announce the project during AirVenture in July.
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