Canada-based completions, refurbishment and maintenance specialist, Flying Colours Corp., has completed the first phase of a three-phase expansion plan, at its Peterborough, Ontario headquarters. The new 20,000 sq.ft extension to an existing hangar was finished in April 2014 and is already housing a number of projects. These projects include a corporate shuttle programme that has seen six Bombardier CRJ 200 regional airliners converted to a 16 business-class seat configuration, with a further three currently undergoing work. In addition a number of special mission conversions are in process, which reflects a new sector of the aviation business for Flying Colours.
The extra space, which took an investment of US$3.5 million, is equipped to handle refurbishment projects, avionics installations and upgrades, heavy maintenance projects and full interior completions, and will also be used to support growth in large jet completion and maintenance. The company is currently working on multiple Bombardier Global aircraft and Challenger 870 conversions for clients from Europe, Asia, and North America. Other projects in the pipeline include multiple large cabin completion/refurbishments for both VIP and special mission aircraft, and the company anticipates that these projects will have significant maintenance tasks associated with them. The company is also in the final negotiating stage with an Asian client for a multiple aircraft contract for the Flying Colours CRJ ExecLiner conversion.
“The completion of this first phase of expansion underpins our international strategy for growth,” stated Sean Gillespie, VP of sales and marketing. “We have a robust client base from the USA and Asia, but have noted that we are receiving an increasingly higher percentage of requests from European and Middle Eastern owners/operators. Africa has also come online for us and we were literally running out of space for current and future workloads. The new hangar means we can accommodate a greater variety of aircraft types up to Global Express models.”
Phases two and three are anticipated to complete in 2015. The extra 45,000 sq.ft will incorporate an additional large cabin hangar, increased shop space for maintenance and interior workshops, and a new down draft paint facility. This will provide Flying Colours with the capacity to work on the Airbus ACJ fleet, Boeing Business Jet family and CSeries models. When completed, a total of 65,000 square feet will have been added to the facilities. Once the final phase of building is completed at Peterborough, Flying Colours Corp. will explore the options for expansion at its US facility which is already running regularly full workshops.
