Eric Stark, a music professor in his 30th year at Butler University, has dreamed of flying his own plane for more than four decades.
“I grew up fascinated with flying. My father was a naval aviator when he was a young man, and when I was a teenager, he started flying again. We took a lot of great trips together,” including a trek to California in his father’s four-seater Cessna.
Four years ago, Stark found the time and money to think about buying his own plane. But first he needed a hangar space to protect his investment. After applying to a half dozen airports in and around Indianapolis, Stark waited three years before he heard back from even one of them – Sheridan Airport in northwest Hamilton County – a 45-minute drive from his home.
Stark at last realized his dream in May 2025. He bought an 80-year-old Piper Cub, a classic two-seater propeller plane with a canvas-covered airframe he could fly the old-fashioned way with just rudder pedals and a control stick.
General aviation – the term for non-commercial flying that includes everything from corporate jets to small aircraft enthusiasts like Stark – pumped $339 billion into the national economy in 2023, including $7.7 billion for Indiana, according to a study by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.
Those dollars especially benefited Indiana’s rural areas, where most non-commercial airports are located, by generating jobs and local spending by residents and out-of-state visitors. Indiana’s 68 general aviation airports employed 26,000 people in 2023.
With the help of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 under the Biden administration, general aviation airports in Indiana have improved their runways, terminals, parking lots and even their restrooms. But the tens of millions in federal dollars that have accrued to the state have so far done little to ease the hangar shortage.
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Federal and state funding for airports generally excludes development of revenue-producing projects like hangar space and refueling stations. A 2023 survey conducted by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association found that 71% of general aviation airports lack sufficient hangar space. Meanwhile, 55% of airport managers said they had land available for hangar development but lacked the funding to do so.
Indiana is faring no better.
Nearly three quarters of the state’s private hangars are at 90% capacity or greater, according to a 2023 estimate by the Indiana Department of Transportation. Many Hoosier airports have waiting lists for hangar space of several years or more, especially in more populous areas like Marion and Hamilton counties.
The Trump administration has made matters worse by cutting and withholding money from the infrastructure bill, including funds for airport improvements, says U.S. Rep. André Carson of Indianapolis, the ranking Democrat on the House Aviation Subcommittee. A total of $175 million in infrastructure money was awarded to Indiana airports through 2026, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. So far, only $117 million of that total has been utilized, state officials said.
“I asked the new FAA Administrator about these funding cuts when he testified before us last month,” Carson said in an email statement from his office. “I requested a full list of the grant cuts and the rationale because I believe that they contravene the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. I also urged the administrator to … restore these important funds. I haven’t received his requested information yet, but I will be monitoring closely.”
While Indiana’s population is expected to remain largely the same over the next decade or so, plane ownership in the state will grow another 12%, from just under 3,000 planes this year to 3,353 in 2039, according to INDOT. The growth in civil aviation is being driven by an increased demand for private and business travel, a boom in flight training schools, and improvements in aircraft design and systems that have made planes safer, easier to fly and cheaper to operate.
At the same time, airport managers face increased construction costs due to labor shortages and inflated material costs first created by the pandemic.
“The cost of new hangar development today is more than double what it was 10 years ago, and during the pandemic, we were watching construction costs rise 3 percent or more monthly,” Curt Castagna, chief executive of the National Air Transportation Association, told Aviation Week in 2023.
While general aviation pilots in Indiana haven’t seen an expansion of hangar space, infrastructure bill funding has led to other improvements in airport facilities and operations around the state, including:
- $2 million for a new control tower and communication system at the Muncie Airport to replace one built in 1957. Copper wiring in some of the old systems has begun to fail, said Airport Manager Tim Baty. “So, we’re getting a new voice switch and radio and communication equipment to improve communications with Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Grissom, the (airports) we pretty much talk to, which will also make their lives easier” in controlling air traffic.
- $1.5 million at Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette toward a $12.5 million terminal that opened in August. The new terminal has reopened flights to Chicago for the first time in 20 years, said Airport Manager Adam Baxmeyer.
- $2.5 million at South Bend International Airport for recent improvements in its terminal restrooms, including larger stalls and the availability of nursing stations for mothers, airport officials said.
- $1.8 million at the Indianapolis Executive Airport in Zionsville for an upgrade of its electrical power system and runway lights and another $800,000 for a second taxiway access to its runway to avoid aircraft bottlenecks.
Given the scarcity of government funds for hangar construction, AOPA advises airport managers to offer reasonable long-term land-lease options for private aircraft owners or aviation businesses so they can construct their own hangars. The leases should have enough flexibility for investors to sell the hangars or renew their leases at the end of their terms.
Secondly, “restrict hangars to their intended use,” says Kyle Lewis, AOPA’s Great Lakes regional manager. Too often, airport managers allow clients to store boats, RVs and other vehicles in hangars when pilots are desperate for a safe space to store their aircraft.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
