The Western part of the United States has an active and persistent base of corporate jet operators. For more than a decade now, they have asked Duncan Aviation to look at expanding our presence in their region.
In reaction to these requests, a team of experts from a variety of disciplines at Duncan Aviation began looking for the right location, a location that was similar in many respects to our Battle Creek, Michigan, and Lincoln, Nebraska, locations. That requirement was paramount because we know that major factors to our success are our people and our company culture. We need a team member base with similar traits and skills to form a Duncan Aviation location that will provide the experience and expertise for which Duncan Aviation is known.
The site selection team found a site that met our required criteria in Provo, Utah, and on August 1, 2010, we opened the doors to Duncan Aviation’s Provo facility with a temporary location in an existing hangar at the airport. Since then, the Duncan Aviation Provo teams have provided major and minor hourly and calendar inspections, line-level engine and avionics support, and interior work for business aircraft from across Europe, the Pacific Rim, and the Americas.
The plan has always been to expand that original footprint and build a facility from the ground up at the Provo Airport. We are pleased to announce that those plans are now underway, and Duncan Aviation is investing in a brand new maintenance, modifications and paint complex in Provo that will be open by the first quarter of 2019.
Building on nearly 45 acres of land, Duncan Aviation will add nearly 275,000 square feet of buildings with a 222,000-square-foot maintenance and modifications center and a 53,000-square-foot paint facility. The new paint structure will have the latest down-draft air flow technology, including automatic monitoring and alarms, to provide the best paint environment possible for aircraft. To increase efficiency, the hangar is designed to accommodate multiple aircraft at once, utilizing a two-zone airflow system. With this design, Duncan Aviation paint teams can perform stripping, sanding, painting, and detail work on multiple aircraft simultaneously. The paint hangar will allow input of some of the largest business aircraft in use today, including Gulfstream’s 550, Bombardier’s Global Express, and Dassault’s Falcon 7X.
"We still consistently hear from operators in the Western United States that they would like to see more investment in a Duncan Aviation location closer to their home base," says Aaron Hilkemann. "The Provo area is the perfect complement to our other full-service facilities. There is much excitement from our team members as well as operators based in the area for us to finally begin work on the infrastructure needed to care for upcoming maintenance and completions demand from in the area and around the world."
Wade Albrecht, Maintenance Supervisor with Landmark Aviation, Inc., currently manages two aircraft, a Falcon 2000 and a Learjet 60. He has taken aircraft to the Provo location for airframe and engine inspections, avionics certification and various squawks.
"Duncan Aviation has a good, solid reputation in our industry," Wade says. "The company supports the customer with honest, straight-forward solutions. Duncan Aviation has been instrumental in the maintenance of my aircraft, which keeps our VIPs, our crew, and me safely flying."
Wade has been bringing aircraft to the Provo facility for more than five years and says he is looking forward to having a full-service Duncan Aviation facility closer to the West Coast and his home base of San Jose, California.
In addition to this upcoming expansion in Provo, Duncan Aviation has invested nearly $200 million in facilities, tooling, and new capabilities, and nearly $48 million in training over the last 20 years.
Aaron says: "We are dedicated to business aviation, our customers and team members and every decision we make is made with them and the future in mind."