Aviation View | April 2021

111 AVIATION VIEW APRIL 2021 READING REGIONAL A I RPORT equipment and material, which will allow airport staff to do the small projects like crack filling and airfield painting. Additional capital improvement projects laid out for each of the next five years include rehabilitating the signage on both the runways and taxiways. They are also hoping to rehabilitate the terminal parking lot. The terminal itself was renovated in 2000, but needs to be “spruced up” with the most recent changes in the HVAC system. Then they will turn their attention to changing over the lighting from quartz to LED. “And of course,” Sroka chimes in, “we are out of hangar space. There is a waiting list for both corporate and GA clients. We have the room to build more, but the airport itself does not have the financial resources. We own 16 nested T-hangars. There is another set of T-hangars on the north side which are privately owned and our FBOs are pretty much filled up. PPC Excursions was a private company who came in and built their own hangar and we have another site that is shovel ready. The airport has lots of room to grow and we are working with our FBOs to find new tenants. We get several calls throughout the year looking for hangar space, and most people want them tomorrow. Obviously, the answer is no, and that is a problem. So, we must get to the point of realizing there is so much interest that we could fill additional hangars. I would love to see some box hangars, more T-hangars, or even a corporate facility at the airport. We have a 17-acre spot adjacent to the taxiways and we are working on ideas for that. It would be great to have a maintenance and repair facility set up there, for example.” The Reading Regional Airport also does a lot of community service work, especially with school- aged children. There is an anti-bullying group called The Camel Project in Reading, started by an author who was bullied growing up – they seek to educate and inspire people to rise above bullying, and each year the airport puts together a 5K run in November with them. They even managed to do it this year despite COVID restrictions. The airport also works with the