KAPA - Centennial Airport
Opened 1968
Annual Airport Operations (2023): 362,407
News Articles:
Colorado's Centennial Airport Hangar Rent Dispute Heads to Court - AVweb's account of the Centennial Airport town hangar dispute, in which monthly rent at the Denver jetCenter FBO rose from $660 to $1,200 effective April 1, an increase of nearly 82 percent. Tenants argue the rate is not "fair and reasonable" for hangars at a publicly funded airport, filed a Part 13 airport compliance complaint with the FAA after negotiations failed, and have now taken the matter to court. The article notes the joint AOPA and Colorado Pilots Association letter to airport leadership, which argued that the FBO's premium amenities primarily serve turbine and corporate operators rather than the piston owners renting the town hangars, and urged the sponsor to confirm the rates comply with federal grant assurances. The pilots group says the dispute is about the long-term affordability of basing an aircraft at Centennial, not a single rent increase. - August 5, 2026
Denver pilots fight hangar rent hike in court - Tenants challenging the 82 percent hangar rent increase imposed in April by Denver jetCenter at Centennial Airport have formed a nonprofit pilots association, filed suit seeking an injunction, and launched a GoFundMe to sustain mounting legal costs. jetCenters of Colorado has moved to dismiss, arguing it is not bound by the federal grant assurances that apply to the airport sponsor. The FAA Northwest Mountain Region has opened a Part 13 investigation and, in a February 9 letter, indicated that Grant Assurance 22 likely reaches the FBO, because a sponsor must insert and enforce provisions requiring contractors furnishing aeronautical services to the public to do so on a reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory basis. AOPA's Brad Schuster warns that if the FBO prevails, other FBOs are likely to impose similar increases, and notes that profit-sharing clauses in FBO leases give sponsors a financial disincentive to challenge them. - July 30, 2026
Denver Pilots Shocked By Hangar Rate Hike - The Denver jetCenter FBO at Centennial Airport offered no details on the rationale for increasing monthly hangar rent when it notified tenants in mid-December that the rate will increase from $660 to $1,200, effective April 1, pushing the price 140 percent above the 2021 rate of $500. While the airport authority agreed to comply with FAA regulations and policies when it accepted various grants, including that fees and charges for aeronautical services be "fair and reasonable," jetCenters of Colorado has been slow to respond to the 47 affected tenants, or to an inquiry from airport management. - February 5, 2026
Hangar Tenants Claim Rent Hikes Violate Grant Assurances - A group of hangar lessees at Centennial Airport in Colorado says rent hikes imposed by their FBO landlord violate the airport’s grant assurance limits. In a letter to the FAA, the Association of Town Hangar Tenants is calling for an investigation into the doubling of their rents in 14 months from $600 to $1,200 a month. They claim the increase violates conditions of the grant assurances for airport improvements that hangar rents be “fair and reasonable” and in line with hangar rates at other comparable airports. The group says the rent increases amount to a “constructive denial of access” by pricing the hangars out of the reach of some tenants. - January 30, 2026
Colorado’s Centennial Airport Leads Unleaded Aviation Fuel Initiative with $300,000 Grant Approval - Colorado’s Centennial Airport secured approval for a $300,000 grant aimed at supporting a subsidy program for unleaded aviation fuel sales. The initiative aims to incentivize the switch from leaded to unleaded aviation fuels by offsetting the higher costs of the new unleaded fuel by reimbursing pilots for the price difference. The move comes as the airport strives to proactively address community concerns over lead. - June 14, 2024
Unleaded UL94 Avgas Now Available at Centennial Airport - Considered the Nation’s third busiest general aviation airport, Centennial Airport, became the first public-use airport in the State of Colorado to offer unleaded aviation fuel to its piston-powered aircraft users. One of four aviation fuel providers located at the airport, jetCenter of Colorado became the first to take on a load of the unleaded avgas produced by Swift Fuels. Centennial’s move to unleaded avgas comes in response to the local community's voice and the Eliminate Aviation Gas Lead Emissions Program led by the Federal Aviation Administration. The program’s goal is to see a full nationwide transition from 100LL to unleaded avgas by the year 2030. With much of Centennial Airport’s traffic consisting of training flights, flight schools based at the airport have shown their support for the transition. To date, 80 percent of the aircraft operated by flight schools at Centennial Airport are now certified to safely use UL94 unleaded avgas. - May 8, 2023
Residents still have concerns after Centennial Airport becomes first to use unleaded fuel - May 3, 2023
Neighbors near Centennial Airport complain of increased traffic, noise - February 12, 2023
Woman worries she’ll be targeted for bringing concerns over Centennial airport noise - September 6, 2023 (editors note: she's not being targeted. She lives under the controlled airspace in which the tower gives airplanes in that airspace a heading to fly).