Home › Airport Rent Studies

For airport managers and sponsors

Hangar and FBO ground rent studies, priced for small airports.

A written fair market rent opinion for each hangar building, or for your FBO ground lease, that you can put in the agenda packet and the FAA compliance file. Desktop study. Letter report. Purchase order or card accepted.

Request your rent study See what is included

Hangar Rent StudyPer hangar building, by unit type

$700per hangar

Three or more hangarsStudied together, one report per building

$500per hangar

FBO Ground Lease Rent StudyOne leasehold, one letter report

$1,400flat fee

Why now

Three moments when a documented rent protects the airport

Most small airports carry rate schedules forward for years. The cost and lead time of a traditional rent study meant the market check never happened. These studies are scoped so it can.

Grant Assurance 24

Federally obligated sponsors agree to maintain a fee and rental structure that makes the airport as self-sustaining as possible. A written rent opinion is the evidence that your rates were set against the market rather than inherited from an old schedule.

Rate resets and board approval

When rents go to the board or council, tenants ask where the number came from. A letter report with comparable lease evidence answers that question in the agenda packet, before the meeting starts.

Waitlists and lease reappraisals

A long T-hangar waitlist is a market signal. So is an FBO lease reaching its reappraisal date. Both are moments when documented market rent protects revenue for the years that follow.

What you receive

Two studies, fixed prices, no scoping calls required

Each study is delivered as a letter report addressed to the sponsor, with the comparable data tables behind the conclusion.

Hangar Rent Study

Fair market rent for each hangar building

$700per hangar building

$500 per hangar when three or more are studied together

Rent conclusion stated by unit type: T-hangar bay, box hangar, corporate hangar, or shade
Comparable lease evidence from competing and regional airports
Benchmarking against the quarterly GA Hangar Rent Index
Adjustments for utilities, maintenance responsibility, and expense treatment
Letter report suitable for the agenda packet and the FAA compliance file

A building counts as one hangar. A ten-unit T-hangar building is one hangar. A standalone box or corporate hangar is one hangar.

Request a hangar rent study

FBO Ground Lease Rent Study

Fair market ground rent for the FBO leasehold

$1,400flat fee

One leasehold, one letter report

Ground rent conclusion stated per square foot of land per year
Comparable FBO and aeronautical ground leases
Return on underlying land value as a second leg where lease evidence runs thin
Notes on escalation and reappraisal mechanics found in the comparable leases
Letter report for lease resets, renewals, and new lease negotiations

Covers the ground rent. Fuel flowage fees, minimum annual guarantees, and percentage rent can be added as a quoted scope.

Request an FBO ground rent study

How it works

Four steps, no site visit

Send the request

Use the form below. Tell us the airport, the hangars or the leasehold involved, and what you need the report for.

Receive the statement of work

We reply within one business day with a one-page statement of work, the delivery date, and a payment link or an invoice against your purchase order.

We complete the analysis

The study is built from your rate and lease information, public records, comparable lease evidence, and the GA Hangar Rent Index. No site visit is needed.

Receive the letter report

The report arrives by email with the comparable data tables behind it. The sponsor owns the report and may share it with the board, tenants, auditors, and the FAA.

Clay Carter, DBA, CFA, FRM, founder of Valuation Takes Flight LLC

Who prepares it

Clay Carter, DBA, CFA, FRM, CAIA

Associate professor of finance at an aeronautical university, founder of Valuation Takes Flight, author of Valuing Aircraft Hangars: A Textbook for Real Estate Appraisers, and publisher of the GA Hangar Rent Index, the quarterly market-rent benchmark for US general aviation hangar storage.

Every study is benchmarked against the firm's quarterly GA Hangar Rent Index and draws on its published research on FAA rate-setting, airport ground leases, and hangar economics. Recent sponsor work includes a hangar rent study for a municipal general aviation airport in Florida.

DBAMBAMSCFAFRMCAIACIPM

Inside the report

What the letter report contains

Purpose, intended use, and the property or leasehold studied
Airport and market context, including based aircraft and activity trends
Comparable lease table with source, date, unit type, size, and rent
Adjustments and the reasoning behind each one
Rent conclusion by category, with the GA Hangar Rent Index position for the quarter
Assumptions, limiting conditions, and the preparer's certification

Common questions

Is this a USPAP appraisal?

These studies are delivered as consulting analyses in letter form, which is what most sponsors need for rate setting. If your file requires a USPAP appraisal report, say so in the request and we will quote that scope separately.

Will this satisfy the FAA?

FAA guidance expects a sponsor to be able to show how aeronautical rates were set. The report gives you that documentation. No consultant can promise an FAA outcome, and we do not.

Can we pay by purchase order?

Yes. We invoice against a purchase order or accept card payment through a secure Stripe link. Both prices sit below the federal micro-purchase threshold and below most local small-purchase limits.

What do you need from us?

Your current rate schedule, the buildings or parcel involved with size, unit count, door type, and age if known, and any lease terms that affect rent such as utilities or maintenance responsibility. Most sponsors send this in one email.

Request your rent study

Tell us about the airport

You will receive a one-page statement of work within one business day. No obligation until you sign it.