CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C. — Construction is well underway on Elizabeth City State University’s new Aviation Training Center in Currituck County, marking a major step forward in the university’s effort to address workforce shortages in the aviation industry.
The nearly 16,000-square-foot facility will include a 10,000-square-foot building featuring a maintenance hangar, student learning areas, and office space, along with an additional 6,000-square-foot hangar for aircraft storage.
“What you see here is a 10,000 square foot facility that’s going to have a maintenance hangar and student space and office space as well,” said Dr. Rawat, ECSU's Dean of the School of Science, Avaition, Health and Technology. “Then you see another hangar here for storage of aircraft, and that’s another 6,000-square-foot facility.”
The project comes as the aviation industry faces a nationwide labor shortage, impacting pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aviation professionals. University leaders say demand continues to grow rapidly.
“The demand is almost 18,000 pilots every year,” Rawat said. “So we have an important role to play in meeting that demand.”
Ground was broken on the Currituck County site in early 2025, making it the first of four planned aviation hubs across North Carolina. Discussions are currently being held in other counties across North Carolina for the University to set up more hubs. This facility will allow students enrolled in ECSU’s expanding aviation program to receive hands-on flight training just 20 minutes from the university’s main campus.
Currently, students train at the Elizabeth City Regional Airport, but growing enrollment has pushed the limits of available space.
“With more and more students doing flight training at that airport, we are actually saturating their space,” Rawat explained. “That’s when we started thinking we have to go beyond Elizabeth City Airport.”
The Currituck County aviation hub is expected to open by fall 2026, just in time for the start of the academic year. However, it is only one part of a much larger expansion underway at ECSU.
The university’s aviation program has been growing by approximately 30 percent each year, with freshman class sizes increasing dramatically.
“We used to have freshman classes of 30, 40, or 50 students,” Rawat said. “Now our freshman class is 150 students.”
To accommodate that growth, ECSU is also planning a new on-campus School of Aviation building. The facility will include a drone training area, a control tower simulator, and expanded classroom space. Construction is expected to be completed by summer 2027, one year after the Currituck County hub opens.
University leaders say the long-term goal is to serve up to 1,000 aviation students, a target that depends on continued investment in facilities and resources.
“We’re not going to stop at 700 or 800 students,” Rawat said. “We’re looking at 1,000-plus students, and the only way we can sustain that growth is if we have the facilities, the classrooms, and the resources to support it.”
ECSU currently offers the only four year Aviation Science Degree in North Carolina, so this expansion represents a big step for a state that was once home to the famous Wright Brothers.
