Hangar tenants at Centennial Airport near Denver have dropped their lawsuit against the airport’s FBO, Denver jetCenter. The fight was over a rent rise of 82 percent that took effect in April 2026: a T-hangar went from $660 to $1,200 a month.
The pilots tried two routes. Their association, CAPA, asked a state court for an injunction, and tenants also filed a complaint with the FAA. The FAA rejected the complaint on 20 August and refused to reconsider on 7 October. Mediation in the court case went nowhere, and every offer from the FBO kept the $1,200 rate.
With legal fees past $60,000, the group called it a day. The leases let the rent rise by 3 percent, by inflation or by “market conditions”, whichever is highest, and the FBO leaned on the last one. Inflation was 3.7 percent over the year to September.
More than a third of the FBO’s 45 T-hangars already stand empty. AOPA’s general counsel said they were “sorely disappointed” that the FAA wouldn’t take another look.
Hangar rents are going up at other airports too, so this case has been watched well beyond Colorado.
Source: AOPA (Jay Wiles), 29 October 2026
Photo (the apron at Centennial Airport): Jeffrey Beall / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0