TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Topeka Regional Airport is building a new hangar that could be the next step toward commercial flight in the Capital City.
“We’re really getting the ball moving on more aviation activity here in Topeka,” Topeka Regional Airport Director of Development Curtis Sneden said.
Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority has signed a long-term lease with Davcon Aviation to build the hangar.
“We are very excited by this partnership that’s going to result in, we hope, a lot more air traffic here,” Sneden said. “And creating a number of really high-paying jobs in the process.”
Sneden says the hangar will house bigger jets, open the space to new clientele, and bring around 350 new jobs to the city.
“Those are good-paying jobs, it’s sophisticated work, and we anticipate several hundred of them,” he said. “Hopefully that’s just the beginning, we hope this is the start of a long process of developing this airport and also Billard.”
The airport hopes this is another step toward a future with commercial airlines servicing Topeka.
“We’ve been in communication with a number of airlines, and they have interest,” Sneden said. “It’s just a matter of aligning all of the different factors that they have to work with to schedule out a route that will work for them and work for us.”
The airport has some state backing as well, with lawmakers approving funding for $10 million of the project’s $25 million price tag during the last legislative session.
“That makes all the difference in the world,” Sneden said. “It makes it possible for a developer to come here to a relatively fresh market and stand up an asset like this and turn around and lease it to a company that will bring those jobs and all that activity.”
Construction on the hangar starts this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.