Donegal Springs Airpark Plans Two New Hangars, Its First Construction Since the 1980s
Why It MattersWaiting lists of nearly 30 for 10 hangars show hangar space, not runway access, constraining small general aviation fields, so private owners are funding expansion from fuel and parking revenue.
Donegal Springs Airpark, a 26-acre privately owned, publicly accessible airport at 186 Airport Road in East Donegal Township, Pennsylvania, between Marietta and Elizabethtown, plans to begin construction on two new hangars later this year. It would be the airport's first new construction since the 1980s. The roughly $1 million project will add space for four to six small planes.
Owner Ben Travis, who also owns Smart Avionics, an aircraft electronics business based at the airport, said the expansion responds to a growing number of pilots using the field and a persistent need for hangar space at small airports in the region. Travis became sole owner in 2020, having previously been part of an ownership group. Since then he has paved and expanded the aircraft parking area outside the main hangar and made fuel sales available 24 hours a day, which has generated revenue for further upgrades.
Nearly 30 people are on a waiting list for the airport's 10 existing hangars, more than double the number in 2020. Flight operations, meaning total takeoffs and landings, have risen to about 5,000 from 3,500 over the same period. That is about 5% of the operations Lancaster Airport recorded last year. The airport is used mostly by privately owned, propeller-driven aircraft, and its single runway is less than half as long as the main runway at Lancaster Airport and is not long enough for jets.
Long-term plans include adding another handful of hangars within two to three years, and as many as 20 new T-shaped hangars for small planes about two years after that. Travis also said he would like to see a restaurant open for pilots stopping at the airport.
