Hawthorne Aviation breaks ground on new hangar at Chicago Executive Airport

Construction is underway on a new hangar for Hawthorne Global Aviation Services at Chicago Executive Airport.

The company is building a 32,760-square-foot hangar with office space on the east side of the airport at 1086 S. Milwaukee Ave. in Wheeling. It's the first new building built at the airport in four years.

The hangar will double the size of the company's presence at the airport. As its list of customers grows, Hawthorne Aviation has been "bursting at the seams" in its facilities opened four years ago, airport officials said.

"In the four-years since we opened our (fixed-base operator) here at Chicago Executive, the number of corporate flight departments and aircraft that are based with us has grown to a point where we need a dedicated office/hangar facility for their use that is separate from our transient customers," David Annin, general manager of the facility, said in a news release.

The structure is expected to be complete in late fall this year. The company has plans to build another hangar in the future.

Wheeling and Prospect Heights own the airport.