Parish airport planning new hangar

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 17, 2010

VIDALIA —The Concordia Parish Airport is looking to expand its operations by adding a new T-Hangar to its facilities.

The airport is in the process of receiving a $300,000 grant from the Louisiana Department of Transportation Aviation Division for the new hangar, which would house an additional six to eight planes at the airport, which currently houses 14.

“We competed with almost every other airport in the state,” Concordia Parish Airport Authority Chairman Carl Sayers said. “They chose us as one of the first airports in the program.”

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Sayers said the $325,000 hangar will bring in an additional $1,500 a month to the airport’s revenue by providing additional rental space for airplanes to be based and operated out of Concordia.

“They will also be buying fuel and bringing additional activity to the airport,” he said.

The new hangar with be a pre-fabricated model from T-Corporation, a subsidiary of Full Fab Hangar Manufacturing Company, which received the bid for the project at a cost of $107,700, Sayers said.

Sayers also said the construction bid for the project was awarded to C.R. Humphries out of Baton Rouge at a cost of $237,100.

“They are going to furnish materials, lay the foundation and erect the hangars,” he said. “We are expecting to start construction at the end of January.”

Sayers said both the T-Corporation and C.R. Humphries are adjusting their prices to fit the $325,000 budget.

The additional $25,000 for the project was given to the airport by the Concordia Parish Police Jury in a vote at the meeting Monday night.

Sayers said the hangar is scheduled for completion in July.

“We have been working to get this new hangar for two years,” he said. “We expect to have six to eight new tenants flying out of Concordia Parish as soon as construction is complete.”

Jury President Melvin Ferrington said the new hangar is going to be a great asset to the airport.

“I know it is going to be a great improvement for the Concordia Parish Airport,” he said. “It is going to bring more flights into and out of the area.”