Tenants drop lawsuit after FAA upholds hangar rate hike

AOPA worked with local pilots, who organized the Centennial Airport Pilots Association (CAPA), and with the Colorado Pilots Association to push back on the rate hike.

The tenants filed a Part 13 complaint with the FAA, saying the jump from $660 to $1,200 a month for a T-hangar was not “fair and reasonable,” which would violate the airport’s federal grant assurances. CAPA also filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking an injunction to block the increase.

On August 20, the FAA rejected the complaint. In a letter to the FAA, AOPA General Counsel Fernando Campoamor urged the agency to reconsider its decision. But the agency doubled down and rejected that request on October 7.

Chris Stieber, who leads CAPA, said Denver jetCenter refused to budge during mediation; each of its offers included the $1,200 rate. CAPA then dropped the suit because it could not afford to continue the fight, which left Stieber feeling "bitter and frustrated."

"The frustration is not only with Denver Jet Center, but also the other pilots who don't understand what's going on here. I have been warning all along that this is going to set a precedent," Stieber said. "To pilots in the rest of the country, if you think this doesn't apply to you, it might not today, but it will tomorrow because now it's open season on hangar rent."

The group is now raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to cover more than $60,000 in legal fees it has already incurred—most of which Stieber has paid himself.

"Every single penny we've raised has gone to legal fees without exception," Stieber said.

Stieber said the leases are subject to rate adjustments based on the greatest of three factors: 3 percent, the consumer price index (up 3.7 percent over the last 12 months ending in September), or "market conditions."

"Denver jetCenter has been justifying this as market conditions, which is absolute nonsense, because what is the market?" said Stieber, who pointed out the other two large general aviation airports in the Denver area—Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport and Colorado Air and Space Port—charge less than $500 per month.

Since the rate hike, Stieber said, more than one-third of Denver jetCenter's 45 T-hangars have been vacated, and more tenants plan to move their airplanes—including him.

“We are sorely disappointed the FAA declined to reconsider its original finding,” Campoamor said. “Chris Stieber, Mark Roth, and the dozens of other tenants put up a strong fight, but the FBO wouldn’t back down from its egregious rate hike.

“AOPA is concerned that this decision, along with similar increases proposed elsewhere, will embolden other FBOs and airports across the country to impose outrageous fee hikes,” added Campoamor. “We'll keep working with pilots to fight them, and we'll keep pushing the FAA to enforce the grant assurances that federally funded airports are required to follow.”