A $500,000 state grant will cover half the cost of a project that's been on Don Bailey's wish list for a long time: new hangars at the Butler County Airport in Penn.

Mr. Bailey, airport manager, learned unofficially last week that the airport authority is one of four in Pennsylvania to receive a piece of a $2.5 million allocation that aims at improving the state's airline infrastructure.

He said he wants to use the money to construct two 10-stall hangars known as "T-hangars" because each of the interior stalls is shaped like the letter "T."

"This has been a long-standing request,'' he said.

The airport's existing hangars were built in the 1960s. "They're pole buildings and those aren't designed to last that long,'' Mr. Bailey said.

The airport currently has 33 stalls in five buildings .

He said some of the old buildings will be removed when the new hangars are built, but the construction won't happen immediately.

"It's not as easy as it sounds to put them up. It'll probably take two years,'' he predicted. He explained that taxiways will have to be built for each structure.

Other airports receiving grants are the Arnold Palmer Airport in Westmoreland County, the Branden Airport in Northampton and Lancaster Airport. Each grant is for $500,000, except for the one to the Arnold Palmer Airport, which is $1 million.