New Hangars at Wittman Regional Help Meet Growing Demand, Boost Lease Revenue

Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), a county-owned general aviation airport in Oshkosh, WI, becomes the busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements when the Experimental Aircraft Association holds its week-long AirVenture air show each July. Last year, OSH logged 16,780 aircraft operations in the 11 days during and around the popular event. That’s a mind-blowing average of 113 takeoffs and landings per hour.

But the airport also is popular with general aviation operators the rest of the year, too, with average annual operations of about 80,000. That’s why it recently built 20 new hangar units on the east side of the airfield and added six shovel-ready pads for even more. The completed units, divided evenly between two buildings, are the first airport-owned hangars built at OSH in 28 years, notes Airport Director Jim Schell.

With the $4.3 million project complete early last year, the airport now owns 100 hangars. There are also another 100 or so privately owned hangars on the field, but an overall shortage of storage space continues to be an issue.

“We still have about 80 people on a waiting list,” Schell reports.

He attributes the increased demand to a resurgence of younger people getting into flying, and a lack of inventory at nearby airports. Moreover, if hangars are available, they are usually in poor condition because general aviation airports have struggled to maintain them during the last couple decades, he adds.

The new batch at OSH were funded with $3 million from Winnebago County (which owns and operates the airport) and another $1.3 million in federal and state grants. Initially, they are expected to generate about $84,000 in additional annual revenue for the airport.

“We just embarked on a rate study for hangar leases, so we anticipate a price increase in early 2026,” notes Schell.

Fits to a T

The new hangar buildings, designed by Westwood Professional Services Inc., are each about 230 feet long, 55 feet wide and 20 feet high at the peak of the roof. Inside each building are 10 insulated T hangars, with the sections for aircraft tails nested in the middle, which reduces the overall length of the building.

“The hangars interlock like Tetris blocks,” Schell remarks.

Using this method, the airport was able to add 20 hangars on roughly the same footprint that used to hold only five. The design also decreased construction costs and reduced the length of taxi lanes that were needed, notes Aaron Stewart, director of aviation at Westwood.

The two hangar buildings stand parallel to each other, with bi-fold doors on both sides of each building. There’s a taxi lane between the two buildings and their aprons, plus two more—one on the opposite side of each building–so planes also can enter and leave from those sides of the structures. The taxi lanes are about 300 feet long.

Each hangar has about 1,000 square feet of space—enough for a typical single- or light twin-engine piston airplane—and measures 41 feet, 7 inches at the widest point and about 33 feet from the front bi-fold doors to the rear of the unit.

Because the hangars are literally shaped like the letter T, they don’t entirely fill the rectangular-shaped buildings. That left “dead” spaces in two corners of each building, behind the wing sections of the end hangars. Instead of letting the valuable space go to waste, Westwood converted three of those areas into storage spaces for operations and maintenance supplies such as paint, line-painting machines and small snow-removal and mowing equipment.

In addition to designing the hangar buildings and taxi lanes, Westwood also designed associated stormwater control infrastructure, including a detention pond.

Built for Comfort

When OSH surveyed existing and potential tenants about desired hangar amenities, heat was a frequent response. Bear in mind, Wisconsin winters can be very cold.

The airport consequently outfitted the hangars with gas-fired heaters from Detroit Radiant Products Co. The infrared units, installed by Engebos Heating and Cooling LLC, hang from the ceiling at the rear of the hangars. Each hangar has its own gas meter, so tenants only get charged for the natural gas they use.

“It’s an unusual feature in hangars,” says Stewart. “Historically, some units were built with heaters included and some without because not everyone might want a heated space.”

Designers used a “dead space” in one of the buildings to add another highly requested amenity: a public restroom.

Existing tenants were given priority access to the new hangars, followed by aircraft operators on the waiting list.

Efficient Construction

To make room for the new hangar buildings, crews demolished five old hangars and a 160,000-square-foot asphalt apron that was beyond repair.

Westwood designed the slab-on-grade building foundations. The metal buildings were pre-engineered by Erect-A-Tube Inc. and constructed by Coxsee Builders LLC using a post-and-beam technique, with light-grade metal sheeting screwed onto a framework of metal girders.

Crews built the four exterior walls first, and then framed out and sheathed the individual hangars inside.

“It’s a good construction method for buildings like this because they can be built quickly and cost effectively,” says Mike Duesterbeck, vice president of general contractor Cardinal Construction Co. “The framing, sheathing, motors and man [pedestrian access] doors all came in one package.”

Onsite construction began in early 2023, and each building took about four to five months to complete.

More to Come

The new hangar buildings follow on the heels of other infrastructure projects in recent years. In 2020, OSH reconstructed its full parallel taxiway for $8.5 million. In 2021, the airport replaced its old commercial terminal with a new $5.5 million general aviation terminal.

Additional projects lie ahead, starting with more T hangars. Construction of a nine-unit, airport-owned hangar building is expected to begin this fall and end in 2026. Federal funds will pay for the majority of the $2.3 million facility, which will be located adjacent to the other two buildings and feature the same-size hangars.

Looking further ahead, the airport plans to redevelop the site of its former commercial terminal, which is next to the new terminal. One possibility is large corporate hangars, Schell shares.

“There’s also about 300 feet of frontage on an old carrier parking apron that’s a very desirable site for redevelopment,” he adds.

Another improvement in the works is the Oshkosh Aviation Park, an 80-acre business park on the south end of the airfield that likely will house aerospace tenants. Utilities, roads, stormwater infrastructure and a taxiway connector to the airfield are already in place, making the project shovel-ready when the time is right.

Together, these projects bode well for the airport’s future.

“General aviation airports really are only as good as their based flying tenants and the businesses located at the airport,” Schell reflects. “Nothing lasts forever, so you need to keep reinvesting in things like aging hangars that need replacement.”

He expects the newly built hangars to position OSH with a strong user base for the next 70 years of their lifecycle. “We’ve also supplemented our long-term revenue stream from hangar rentals for the next 70 years,” he adds. “We’re well-positioned to serve our users for decades.”