Duncan Aviation marks 70 years with expanded Nebraska engine overhaul shop

Duncan Aviation is marking 70 years in business. Chairman Todd Duncan says the company will keep ploughing earnings back into its operations. His father and grandfather ran the firm before him; he has headed it since 2007.

The centrepiece of that spending is an $89 million overhaul site for Pratt & Whitney Canada engines in Lincoln, Nebraska. The 3,300sq m extension opened formally in June, roughly three years after the RTX subsidiary picked Duncan as a designated overhaul facility for the PW300 and PW500 engine families. It sits alongside an existing 3,700sq m shop for routine engine maintenance and has 12 bays covering strip-down, inspection, repair and rebuild.

Duncan started in Omaha as a Beechcraft dealership run by founder Donald Duncan and moved to Lincoln in 1963. Over the past four decades it has grown into a national operation with three main bases — Lincoln, Battle Creek in Michigan and Provo in Utah — plus about 30 satellite locations at airports across the United States. Around 220 staff work from the satellites, among them rapid response teams; the sites hold parts around the clock for time-critical jobs such as avionics.

Beyond engines, the company's work covers landing gear, avionics, cabin refurbishment and aircraft painting, and it holds authorisations from the major airframers. Todd Duncan said the aim is to look after the whole aircraft rather than single systems.

The satellite network was stretched during this year's FIFA World Cup, which brought a surge in business aviation activity, according to the company.