Duncan Aviation Looking for European Business

Lincoln, Nebraska-based Duncan Aviation (Booth G88) is preparing to start work on building its third location in Provo, Utah. The company is here at EBACE looking for operators from Europe and beyond who are interested in taking advantage of its many years' experience in heavy checks on business aircraft. It is also aware that owners are keeping their aircraft longer, and the of the need for avionics upgrades to meet upcoming mandates.

Duncan, which celebrated 60 years in business last year, has a second “full service” facility is Battle Creek, Michigan (between Chicago and Detroit). It also has 30 satellite shops at airports around the U.S. and 10 rapid response teams to deal with AOG situations.

Arjen Groeneveld, regional manager Europe, Russia and Middle East, said, “We are keen to expand our customer base internationally. We are unique compared to competing service centers–besides Jet Aviation–as we’re a real one-stop shop, with airframe, paint, interior refurbishment, avionics and aircraft sales.”

He highlighted Duncan’s strong reputation for quality and on-time delivery, and even on-time delivery of final invoices, something he said was lacking with many other providers.

Here in Europe the company is working to develop two partnerships it has established with Jet Support at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and Air Alsie, based in Sonderborg, Denmark. “This is something new, too,” he said.

Groeneveld, with a background in aircraft leasing and finance, was Duncan’s first international employee some eight years ago. He said he’s been “very active” in educating the wider international market about Duncan’s capabilities. He also has become active within the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), suggesting and now chairing the new maintenance working group of EBAA’s Associate Members Advisory Council (Amac).

Groeneveld said Duncan Aviation had completed an average of 46 heavy maintenance jobs over the past five years (230 in total) with Falcons accounting for 153; Bombardier Global/Challenger jets 72; and five on Embraer Legacy 600/650s. The company just finished its seventh C-check on a Falcon 7X.

Asked why European operators would bring their aircraft to the U.S. for heavy maintenance, Groeneveld recognized that it was unlikely to apply for smaller aircraft, but for long-range jets, the company has already enjoyed success in the European market, he claimed. “Because we work online on major overhauls, the workers are very dedicated. There is an incentive to come to us, as there is trust. Since the majority of the [worldwide business aircraft] fleet is in the U.S., our workers are very used to working on all the aircraft.”

He also reflected on the ABACE show in Shanghai last month, which he attended. “Everyone had great plans [for China] a couple of years ago, but in reality, there are only around 400 aircraft over there–so the market is still relatively small, similar to that of Austria.” He noted that most Chinese operators who want a major check have to fly to Seletar in Singapore. He suggested that are at a premium there because of the relatively small number of shops.

Aircraft Sales Arm

Earlier this year, Duncan Aviation hired Tim Barber to head up its aircraft sales and acquisitions in the EMEA region–and this is a major theme for the company here in Geneva this week. Barber said he is “looking to get European, Asian and Middle Eastern listings,” but noted that the company works only on exclusive mandates.

However, one of the main drivers for Duncan being active in this area is to bring in more work on the maintenance side, and Barber even pointed to the possibility of making speculative purchases and sales. “If we got the right deal on an aircraft, hypothetically, we could bring it in, do maintenance, clean it up [and sell it],” he told reporters at a media briefing in Westminster, London on May 11.

Barber said that in the six weeks since he joined the company, he had secured the company’s first listing in Europe, followed by a second within eight weeks. “Having the Duncan Aviation brand is a big benefit when speaking with clients and prospects, because they know there’s a wealth of technical support available to support their sale,” he said. “[Few] are aware that we have transacted nearly 3,500 aircraft sales—many that have occurred across borders—since our beginnings more than 60 years ago."

The first European listing for Barber was a 2002 Citation Excel; followed up by a 2006 Hawker 850XP. He's also working on acquiring a Hawker 900XP for a client and has “a number of other sales projects that are in advanced stages of negotiation,” according to the company.

Barber discussed how residual values of aircraft, from new, have recently plunged so markedly, compared to previous periods. An exception was the Gulfstream G650 around 2014-15, when they actually appreciated, due to scarcity. “Only the G650 over the past 10 years showed any appreciation for a while," he said. But he cited the core value of a business jet, which gives “people the opportunity of buying time." He said that flexibility sometimes allows the business jet user "to stay somewhere to finish that billion-dollar deal" and the benefits of that kind of flexibility should offset "a bit of depreciation.”

Barber thought it unlikely that Duncan Aviation has any plans to add its own MRO facility in Europe, but did say, “If there was any expansion outside the U.S., it would definitely be Europe.” But for now the company is happy with its alliance partnerships.

ADS-B Mandates

With the FAA recently reaffirming the 2020 hard deadline for re-equipping to meet NextGen mandate, Duncan Aviation says it has already seen a greater uptick in the market for ADS-B upgrades. “With 27 avionics shops and ‘workaway’ stations located at busy airports around the U.S., Duncan Aviation is in a unique position to perform [ADS-B] upgrades for its business aviation customers. In the first quarter of 2017, [we] have completed 47 ADS-B installations and have an additional 51 scheduled for the second quarter,” said the company.

“We’ve touched dozens of aircraft in the past few months, including Challenger 300s, [Gulfstream] G150s, Citation 560XLs, a Pilatus PC-12, Falcon 900EXs, a couple of Challenger 601s, and a couple of G200s,” said Matt Nelson, manager of satellite operations.

Apart from Rockwell Collins, the manufacturer of the TDR-94/TDR-94D transponder units, Duncan Aviation is the only service provider authorized to perform ADS-B upgrades on the TDR-94/TDR-94D units to bring them into compliance with the 2020 mandate. To date, the Duncan Aviation avionics bench in Lincoln has performed ADS-B upgrades on 132 TDR-94/TDR-94D transponders.