How long are hangar waitlists at Denver-area airports?

Waitlist status by airport

Why are the lists so long?

Three things stack up. First, demand keeps growing: Colorado has roughly 7,000 registered aircraft and about 22,000 pilots according to the 2025 Colorado Aviation Economic Impact Study. Second, municipal airports have added very few hangar rows in decades (Boulder has 80 T-hangars for 395 applicants), and in-town fields like Boulder and Centennial have little land left to build on. Third, turnover is low, because an owner who finally gets a hangar keeps it.

The shortage is national. An AOPA survey found 71 percent of general aviation airports reporting a hangar shortage and 72 percent of applicants waiting six months to two years or more, and the Denver metro sits at the severe end of that range.

What are the alternatives while you wait?

• Tie-down. Available, cheap, and fully exposed to hail, sun, and wind. See what Colorado hail does to an aircraft.
• Shared or informal space. A corner of someone else's hangar. Works until it does not, usually with little notice.
• Buy a resale hangar. They exist but rarely, and they come as-built: someone else's door height and finish.
• Build new. The only route to exactly the hangar you want on a timeline you control, and the reason Tailwind develops at KCFO.

How does building at KCFO get around the list?

Colorado Air and Space Port has land set aside for hangar development and a county that wants it built. Tailwind's first two buildings on Violet Hill sold out before and during construction, 12 hangars in all, with units ranging from a 2,805 square foot standard box hangar to a 4,600 square foot large unit. Tailwind now develops build-to-suit private hangars there: you describe what you fly and what the hangar should do, and Tailwind designs and builds it at KCFO. See how a build-to-suit hangar works.