$2.8M state grant will help fund new aviation hangar at LVIA

A $16 million aviation hangar under construction off Postal Road in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, will get a boost in funding from the state.

On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the approval of $13.7 million in grant funding to make infrastructure and equipment upgrades at nearly 30 Pennsylvania airports, including $2.8 million for Lehigh Valley International Airport, which it will use to help fund Hangar 11.

Hangar 11, the first hangar built at LVIA since 2006, began construction last summer.
The new 54,000-square-foot hangar will fit all types of general aviation aircraft, in addition to large ones that weigh up to 100,000 pounds.

“There’s a lot of interest in hangar space,” said Thomas Stoudt, executive director of Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority.

The project should be complete at the end of the year.

In addition to the $2.8 million the airport authority received from the state, it also received $6 million from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Aviation to help fund the project last year.

The project experienced delays with utility relocation and the winter weather, said Colin Riccobon, director of public and government relations for the LNAA.

The total project includes costs for engineering and design, along with the construction management for inspection, administration and field-testing services, he said.

So far, he does not have any tenants secured, he added.

Riccobon said the authority had significant interest for Hangar 11 but has no signed documents.

The state funding for the airports comes through PennDOT’s Aviation Transportation Assistance Program, Aviation Development Program, and the Multimodal Fund.

Other airports also will receive funding, including:

• Reading Regional Airport in Berks County, which will receive $18,750 to acquire snow removal equipment, $150,000 for rehabilitating portions of the north and west apron pavement areas and $180,000 to construct a de-icing material storage building.
• In Bucks County, Quakertown Airport will get $110,000 to purchase property that will help protect the approaches to the airport’s runway.
• Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport in Monroe County will receive $150,000 for designing the replacement of the fuel farm.