After announcing last December that it planned to leave its home as the Bellingham International Airport, the Heritage Flight Museum says it has now purchased a large hangar at Skagit Regional Airport, several miles west of Burlington.
“We had been looking at Skagit Regional as an option for relocation” the museum’s Executive Director Greg Anders said, in a press release. “This facility came on the market and was seeing a lot of interest. In order to preserve the option to get into a ready-made building that meets all of our space and operational needs, the board of directors decided to take action and not lose the opportunity.”
Museum directors have cited unfavorable lease terms with the Port of Bellingham for a new aviation museum that was planned to be built just north of the runway at the Bellingham International Airport. For the past decade, the Heritage museum has operated out of a hangar owned by Apogree LLC, a firm owned by the nonprofit museum’s founder, William Anders, who is Greg Anders’ father.
According to a statement from the museum, it is continuing its relocation search, but anticipates holding Warbird Weekend in June at the museum’s current facilities in Bellingham.
Heritage Flight Museum is online at www.heritageflight.org.