Yingling Aviation is to significantly expand its current facilities at Dwight D Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas.
Construction on a new 23,000ft² (2,140m²) facility for aircraft avionics and maintenance has begun, and the company is adding another 50,000ft² (4,650m²) of newly leased space consisting of a paint hangar, prep hangar, service, aircraft interiors and office space.
The paint hangar can accommodate up to a Hawker 800 midsize jet, and the additional expansion also includes parking and ramp areas.
Lynn Nichols, CEO of Yingling Aviation, said, “We have completed an agreement to lease the facilities on the east runway (1R/19L) at Dwight D Eisenhower National Airport located immediately north of our current facilities. This is logistically a great fit for our operations.”
The facilities were recently occupied by Hawker Beechcraft Services and vacated when Textron Aviation combined them with the Textron Aviation Service Center across the east runway in 2017.
Nichols continued, “The opportunity for Yingling to offer aircraft paint services has long been on our list of new services to provide, so having these facilities, particularly next door, is a perfect situation for us. Adding paint will complement our interior, avionics and aircraft maintenance services. Generally speaking, when customers have their aircraft painted, they often want avionics upgrades, interior refurbishment and timely maintenance items done at the same time. Adding these paint capabilities positions Yingling Aviation in the marketplace as a full-service MRO.
“The newly added 50,000ft² facility will undergo a major facelift and renovation inside and outside over the next year. This will also result in Yingling adding more new jobs. We’re continuing to add A&P [airframe and/or powerplant] mechanics and avionics technicians and now we’ll be hiring aircraft painters as well. We already have several customers lined up for aircraft paintwork, so we will be off and running as soon as the facilities are ready. We’re planning on a mid-January 2019 start date for paint services to begin.”
Brad Christopher, assistant director of airports, Wichita Airport Authority, commented, “The recent availability of additional hangar space contiguous with the Yingling Aviation complex was a natural and obvious fit to support their growth as both a full-service MRO and FBO. The Airport Authority is proud to support and partner with one of its most important and valuable tenant stakeholders. This is a tremendous economic opportunity for Yingling Aviation, Eisenhower National Airport, and the Wichita community, and it is our privilege to be a part of it.”
