Enid airport director proposes modest hangar rate increases, outlines hangar expansion plans

City airport staff proposed modest rate increases for Enid Woodring Regional Airport’s city-owned hangars during a study-session presentation, and outlined completed and planned hangar construction to address a long wait list.

Kaston, the airport director, told the Mayor and Board of Commissioners that the proposal would raise monthly hangar rents by 1 cent per square foot for city-owned hangars, and adjust land-lease charges (the presenter said the correct land-lease rate is 17 cents per square foot per year). The airport generates roughly $260,000 a year in hangar rental revenue and about $68,000 a year from land leases (the presenter said the land-lease total includes some agricultural land). The increases would produce about a 6.6% average rise in rates, below a roughly 12% cumulative change in the consumer price index since the airport’s last increase, the director said.

Enid Woodring Regional Airport is operated as an enterprise fund and relies on fuel sales and facility rentals for revenue, Kaston said. The airport’s city-owned hangars total 81 units; the airport also has seven city-owned storage hangars (which staff does not plan to raise now) and roughly 21–22 land leases. Kaston said occupancy is effectively 100% and there are about 30–40 people on the wait list for hangars. He told commissioners many on the wait list already own aircraft but are waiting for space to become available.

The director presented comparisons from a state rates-and-charges survey that included several Oklahoma airports — including OU Max Westheimer (Norman), Stillwater Regional Airport, Guthrie and Ponca City — and said Enid’s rates are “bottom of the middle of the pack.” He said the airport uses the CPI and comparable airports when evaluating rate adjustments, and that the Aviation Advisory Board recommended the proposal before it reached the commission.

Kaston also reviewed recent and planned capital work. The city recently completed eight new south‑ramp box hangars (the “401” series) — 48-by-40 foot conjoined hangars with electric bifold doors — at a construction cost the director gave as $1,400,000 for the hangars themselves and $1,600,000 for the apron work in front of them. He said those costs were covered by two grants: a Department of Commerce grant managed by the Oklahoma Financial Development Alliance and a DOD-funded grant administered through the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC). If filled at the proposed rate of 24 cents per square foot per month for those new hangars, the airport would recover the $1.4 million construction cost in roughly 32 years under current assumptions, Kaston said.

Kaston said the airport has secured a $1,000,000 grant for a second phase and is awaiting a potential $40,000 (transcript) or other state grant decision that would support a second-phase build estimated at $2.5 million for larger 50-by-40 hangars. He told commissioners that without grant support private development typically does not build hangars because the return-on-investment timeline is long.

Commissioners asked about occupancy, tenant pushback, subordinate leases and the mix of hangar types. Kaston said the airport does not allow subordinate leases because of the wait list, though tenants may share hangars if they arrange it themselves. He said corporate-series hangars vary widely in amenities; the proposal would split the corporate class into “older” and “newer” corporate hangars and keep older, less-equipped hangars at the current rate while raising rates for newer, climate-controlled hangars.

No formal vote was taken; the presentation was informational and staff said they would return with any requested follow-ups.