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3d ago

Denver Council Blocks Key Lime Air Lease Over ICE Flights

City leaders cast the move as a values-based stance that may draw FAA review of the airport’s grant obligations.

An aircraft from Key Lime Air taxies to the runway at Centennial Airport on January 22, 2019, in Centennial, C.O.
Evan Freirich was among roughly 40 people who protested against Key Lime Air at the University of Colorado Boulder's University Memorial Center on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. They called on CU Athletics to end its contract with Key Lime because of its involvement in flights for ICE detainees. (Photo by Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera)
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Overview

  • The Denver City Council voted 11–1 to reject a Denver International Airport ground-space lease for Key Lime Air, with one member marked absent.
  • The denied agreement covered storage, employee parking and an office trailer on the south cargo apron, but it does not bar the airline from airport access.
  • Key Lime Air can continue charter operations from Centennial Airport and use shared facilities at DIA, and its affiliated Denver Air Connection remains active at the airport.
  • Several council members cited the carrier’s role in ICE detainee transport as their reason, referencing local reporting and monitors that have published differing flight counts and spurred protests at DIA and the University of Colorado Boulder.
  • Members and aviation watchers warned the decision could risk roughly $90 million in FAA grants and prompt a compliance review under grant-assurance and Airline Deregulation Act constraints, though no federal action has been announced.