Hangar Direct Removes All Pilot Fees and Launches a Full Hangar Management Platform

Finding and booking hangar space is now free for every pilot. A new management platform gives airports, FBOs, and hangar owners the tools to run their entire operation in one place.

AUSTIN, TX - June 30, 2026 - Hangar Direct today announced two things at once: it has eliminated all service fees for pilots on its marketplace, and it has launched a dedicated management platform at platform.hangardirect.com. Hangar Direct has been focused exclusively on hangar space since day one. These changes make it genuinely free to use for pilots and give operators a real alternative to the spreadsheets and email chains most of them are still running their businesses on.

For Pilots: Finding and Booking a Hangar Is Now Free

Hangar Direct no longer charges pilots any service fees. Not on nightly bookings, not on monthly leases, not anywhere in the process. A pilot who finds a hangar on hangardirect.com, messages the owner, and signs a lease through the platform pays nothing to Hangar Direct. The only transaction cost is Stripe's standard payment processing rate, passed through at cost with no markup.

This covers every booking type on the platform. Nightly transient stays, month-to-month leases, long-term arrangements - all of it. Pilots can set custom alerts to get notified when a matching hangar is listed, message owners directly, go through the full inquiry-to-lease process in one place, and sign digitally. Listing a hangar has always been free for owners and still is.

Hangar Direct is the only hangar marketplace connected directly to a full tenant management and compliance platform, with listings searchable by airport, state, lease type, and aircraft size.

"I built Hangar Direct because I got caught in bad weather in my Phenom 300 and spent hours on the phone getting pressured into overpriced options," said Trenton Ray, CEO and founder of Hangar Direct. "Every pilot has a version of that story. Removing fees is about making sure the platform is actually on the pilot's side and not taking a cut every time someone needs a place to put their airplane."

For Operators: Everything Is Now in the Platform

All owner and operator tools have moved into platform.hangardirect.com. Listing management, tenant compliance, lease creation, payment tracking, document storage, e-signatures, and marketplace lead management are all in one place, connected directly to the hangardirect.com marketplace.

Previously, listing tools and management functionality were mixed into the marketplace itself. The platform gives operators a dedicated environment to run their operation, whether that is a single private T-hangar or a multi-location FBO with hundreds of tenants.

Automated Compliance: The Part That Changes Day-to-Day Operations

The compliance module is the most significant new capability in the platform. It was built specifically for the documentation burden that airport operators and FBO managers deal with constantly.

Most operations are still tracking certificates of insurance, airworthiness documents, and lease renewals by hand. That typically means 500-plus hours per year of administrative work and compliance rates that rarely get above 70%. When something slips through, the exposure can be serious. A gap in insurance documentation during a weather event or hangar fire can leave an airport holding liability it thought was transferred to the tenant.

Here is how the compliance module works:

Tenant self-service portal. Tenants upload their own insurance certificates, airworthiness documents, and any other required paperwork through their own login. The operator stops chasing.
OCR auto-extraction. When a tenant uploads an insurance certificate, the platform reads it and pulls out the policy number, coverage dates, limits, and insured aircraft automatically. No manual data entry.
Real-time compliance dashboard. Every tenant's insurance, document, and lease status is visible in one view, color-coded by urgency so expired and expiring items are obvious immediately.
Automated reminders. The platform contacts tenants before insurance expires, before leases renew, and before any required document lapses. This happens without the operator having to do anything.
Audit-ready exports. Reports can be exported in formats designed for FAA Grant Assurance compliance, internal audits, and board meetings.

Beta operators saw compliance rates go from below 70% to above 90% within the first two months.

"Before this platform I had insurance certificates scattered across email threads, a spreadsheet I was constantly behind on, and tenants I hadn't heard from in months," said one independent hangar owner in the beta program. "Now I get a notification when something is about to expire and the tenant gets one too. I haven't had to chase a single document since we went live."

An FBO managing more than 80 tenants across two locations put it this way: "We were spending real hours every week just trying to figure out who was compliant and who wasn't. The dashboard makes it obvious in about 30 seconds. Our staff can actually focus on running the FBO."

A municipal airport that joined the beta said the operational clarity was what surprised them most: "We came in focused on the compliance side and that delivered. But what we didn't expect was how much it helped just to have everyone working out of the same place. My staff each see what they need to see, nothing they don't, and when someone sends a message to a tenant or a prospective tenant or anyone on the waitlist, it's right there in the record. No more wondering what was said or who said it. Everything stays connected and everyone stays on the same page."

Everything Else the Platform Covers

Beyond compliance, the platform handles the full scope of day-to-day hangar management:

Lease creation and templates. Three standard lease templates are included, and operators can upload their own legal terms. Every lease type is supported: nightly, month-to-month, annual, and long-term ground leases.
E-signatures. Both parties can sign leases digitally through the platform with no third-party accounts required.
Payment tracking. Rent payments across all tenants are tracked in one place. The platform supports electronic payments through Stripe and manual logging for checks. Operators can see at a glance who has paid and who hasn't.
Waitlist management. When a hangar is full, operators manage a waitlist and pilots are notified automatically when space opens.
Marketplace connection. Open hangar space can be listed to hangardirect.com directly from within the platform. Transient bookings and new tenant inquiries come in without switching between tools.
Built-in messaging. All communication with tenants and marketplace inquirers stays inside the platform and is organized by tenant and hangar.

Pricing

The platform is available now.

Free - $0 per month. Up to 3 active leases, basic document storage, marketplace listings, built-in messaging, and one e-signature credit per month. No credit card required.

Premium - $99 per month. Up to 5 active leases with full compliance automation, OCR insurance tracking, tenant self-service portal, automated reminders, waitlist management, reporting, and 5 e-signature credits per month. Comes with a 14-day free trial.

Fleet - Custom pricing for larger operations. Built for operators managing 6 or more concurrent leases, multiple locations, or enterprise needs. Includes unlimited leases and tail numbers, multi-location management, team access with role-based permissions, audit logs, advanced reporting, FAA-formatted compliance exports, custom integrations including QuickBooks and FBO systems, and white-label options. Contact sales to get started.

There are no marketplace service fees at any tier. The platform subscription covers the management tools. The marketplace is free for pilots to use and free for owners to list.

About Hangar Direct

Hangar Direct was founded by Trenton Ray, a pilot and Phenom 300 owner, after getting stuck in a hangar search nightmare during a weather divert and realizing there was no good way for pilots to find space quickly. The company runs two connected products: hangardirect.com, a national marketplace dedicated to hangar space, and platform.hangardirect.com, the management platform for hangar owners, FBOs, and airport operators of any size.

Media Contact

Trenton Ray CEO and Founder, Hangar Direct trenton@hangardirect.com hangardirect.com platform.hangardirect.com

For interview requests or to schedule a platform demo, reach out to Trenton directly. Logos, product screenshots, and other press assets are available on request.