MARTINSBURG — Plans for constructing rental aircraft hangars at the Altoona-Blair County Airport are moving forward.

With Blair County pledging to be the authority’s guarantor on loan arrangements, the authority voted Monday night to direct Delta Airport Consultants to advertise for bids.

The authority plans to build 12 rental aircraft hangars in an area between Route 886 and the airport terminal building.

The construction will require the airport to find a new location for some of the truck chassis parked on ground being leased to John Stuckey Ford.

Delta consultant David Jones told the airport authority he set up an Oct. 25 meeting for potential bidders.

Bids will be due on Nov. 12, the same day the authority meets and could take action, depending on the bid results.

If quick action is possible, Jones said, the contractor will be a position to order steel that should arrive no later than July. And if that happens, Jones said, then the project could wrap up in August and the hangars could begin generating revenue as early as September.

Airport Manager Tracy Plessinger said Monday that all existing aircraft hangars, mostly built in the 1960s, are rented. Despite their age, the airport has a long history of regularly receiving inquiries from private aircraft owners looking for hangars to park their aircraft. And some of the current renters, Plessinger said, will be interested in moving into one of the hangars to be constructed.

The financing of the authority’s proposed project moved ahead in late September, after commissioners Bruce Erb, Terry Tomassetti and Ted Beam Jr. indicated a willingness to guarantee the airport authority’s loan arrangements with conditions. While the authority originally proposed that it take 37.5 years to pay back a project loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program, commissioners asked for a shorter period.

In response, Plessinger and airport authority Chairman Drew Swope proposed that the authority would commit to paying off the USDA loan over 22 years, with the first two years of interest-only payments.

The authority and the commissioners also agreed that, in the future, the authority could lengthen the 22-year time frame, if needed, but doing so will require support from at least five of its seven authority members.

After commissioners showed support for that plan, Plessinger said he notified the USDA and got a quick response allowing the project to be advertised as soon as possible. M&T Bank, which is providing interim financing for the project and so the authority can restructure its debt, also asked the county to be the authority’s guarantor of up to $2 million.

The commissioners are expected to adopt a resolution at a forthcoming meeting that will put their support in writing.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.