SALADO, Texas — With skydivers swooping in to cut the ribbon, work begins on the new Salado airport off Interstate Highway 35.
“Everything's already approved,” said airport co-owner Mark Pollack. “We're ready to sell lots. Matter of fact, we've already sold 11 lots.”
Pollack is selling 72 lots for airplane hangars on 50 acres.
The airport used to be open only to skydiving. Pollack said one of the reasons his team is building the new airport is because there is a shortage of hangars for recreational aircraft.
“Probably within a 50- to 70-mile radius from here there is zero hangar space available,” said Pollack. “There is a five- to seven-year wait on almost every airport around here.”
In Cedar Park, the owner of the hidden Breakaway Airport agrees there is a shortage of space to store airplanes at airports.
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John Craparo, who has been flying for decades, said communities have started to move in around airports.
“Then they start complaining about noise,” said Craparo. “They start complaining about low-flying aircraft. Because they're taking off and landing. And what happens many times is they're forced out.”
One solution he suggests is retaining the availability of hangar space at large, established airports.
“We have a municipal airport in Georgetown,” Craparo said. “There's a lot of acreage around it that isn't being used. There's also a lot of hangar parking. But why not develop more hangar space at those airports that would have a less likelihood of going away.”
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Pollack said he is considering renting hangars in phase two of the airport. He adds that although airports are becoming scarce, he hopes to make space available to pilots.
“Like Liberty Hill,” he said. “They had a huge airport there that was like a hundred acres. Shut down and now it's all houses. So airport property was more valuable to homes. In this particular case, I think it's more valuable as hangars.”
The Salado airport is supposed to open in about five months.
If you are interested in owning your own hangar at the Salado airport, click here.
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