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In 2019, then-Salt Lake City Airport Director Bill Wyatt told the airport advisory board that SLC has a small airplane traffic problem. At the time, T-hangars rented for $271 a month and that the airport was weighing higher rents as one way to move small aircraft to South Valley Regional and Tooele Valley airports. It took almost seven years, but the first shoe to drop happened on April 9, 2026, with the announcement of a partner, SkyShare, for the buildout and operation of the FBO at South Valley Regional Airport. And finally, in September of this year, letters went out to hangar occupants announcing that rate hikes would soon go into effect. KSL reported that the changes affect 58 shade and T-hangar tenants. One twin hangar shows the scale: pilot Lance Weekley pays about $455 a month today. That rises to $837 on Jan. 1 and $1,219 in July 2027, an increase of roughly 168%. Airport spokesperson Nancy Volmer told KSL the airport needs room for commercial growth and that "piston-driven aircraft will slowly migrate away from SLC." She added that rates there have been under market for decades. Weekley, who flies volunteer animal-rescue missions, told Fox 13 that "$1,219 is probably going to shut us down." Volmer told Fox 13 that an independent 2019 study suggested $1,200 a month for a standard single hangar. The airport says the new rates also reflect a review of other Utah airports and recommendations from aviation consultants. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association wrote to the city on Sept. 25 about the lack of public detail behind the market analysis and has filed a records request under Utah's records law. Venice's rates have largely been unchanged since 2007, and the city says the airport, an enterprise fund, has to support itself. At Centennial, the FBO, Denver jetCenter, sets the rent. AOPA, which advocated for the Centennial tenants, reported that the FAA on Oct. 7 declined to reconsider its determination that the $1,200 rent is reasonable and not a violation of federal grant assurances. FAA Regional Compliance Program Manager Peter Doyle wrote that the agency's fact-finding role does not require it to build an evidentiary case for a complaint that the tenants have not substantiated themselves. AOPA's own figures, cited in its letter to the FAA, point the other way. It put comparable Denver-area T-hangars at roughly $450 to $475 at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan (BJC) and $458 at Colorado Air and Space Port (CFO), said 15 of Centennial's 45 hangars were vacated when the rate took effect, and said the waitlist fell from 108 to 64. AOPA General Counsel Fernando Campoamor argued that the evidence in these disputes is held exclusively by the sponsor and its service provider, and said he expects other airports to see large increases. Where the new hangar capacity is going SLC's designated general aviation reliever, South Valley Regional, saw operations climb nearly 19% from 2023 to 2025, to more than 125,000, with another 5% expected this year. SkyShare opened as the FBO there in August, and the airport said in April that some owners face waits of more than four years for a hangar. Two dual taxilanes now under construction will serve 75 T-hangars and 12 corporate hangars, and the airport expects that project to finish in 2028. Where capacity is going up, it is built for large aircraft. SLC signed Sky Harbour in 2024 for an 8.4-acre business-jet hangar campus, and Sky Harbour said in August that construction is on schedule for completion in the first quarter of 2027. Rise Aviation says it is adding two bays with 160-foot-wide doors at North Texas Regional, and Jet Access opened a Nashville terminal it says can take a Global 7500 or G800. Older hangars often can't. A G700's 25-foot-5-inch tail calls for a 28-foot door, while many decades-old hangars offer 20 to 24 feet of clear opening. What owners should do Hangar rent is being reset against market benchmarks, the alternatives carry waitlists, and new construction leans toward larger aircraft. The FAA's stated position at Centennial adds one more fact for owners, which is that tenants who challenge a rent increase are expected to bring the evidence themselves. That points to three steps before a notice letter arrives. Read the lease for escalation clauses, document comparable rates at nearby airports now, and price an alternate base. Then put the step-ups in the budget. On the Salt Lake City figures, a twin hangar that costs $5,460 a year today costs $14,628 a year at the July 2027 rate, a difference of $9,168 whether the aircraft inside is a piston twin or a turbine. Researching alternate fields? Start with GlobalAir.com's airport resources.