Lincoln, Nebraska

Duncan Aviation announces new $25m paint facility in Lincoln

Duncan Aviation will begin construction of a new $25m paint facility at its Lincoln, Nebraska, MRO this December.

The greenfield hangar build will include a new 32,500-square-foot, dual-bay paint hangar with an adjacent 9,000-square-foot storage and support area. The building will connect directly to Duncan Aviation’s existing paint facility, which was built in 2012, and will include expansion of the ramp area on the building’s west side.

The cross-draft bays will feature modern climate control and the new facility will expand and upgrade waste water treatment for the entire paint complex, add air showers to contain even more contaminants, and provide a small application booth for send-in parts like flaps and thrust-reversers. Hangar lighting will be dimmable so the facility can adapt to changes as future layout and projection equipment becomes an option in Duncan Aviation processes. The facility will also be more energy-efficient, recirculating up to 80% of the heat in any curing processes. In addition, the interior hangar panels and ceiling will be stark white, allowing for better color quality control during paint application.

The new paint hangar Duncan Aviation is building at its Lincoln, Nebraska, location will include 32,500-square-feet of dual-bay hangar space with an adjacent 9,000-square-foot storage and support area. The building will connect directly to Duncan Aviation’s existing paint facility, which was built in 2012, and will include expansion of the ramp area on the building’s west side.

The new hangar was designed and engineered by longtime Duncan Aviation partner Tectonic Management Group, Inc. and will be built by Hausmann Construction. Footings for the building will be poured and steel will begin arriving on-site in December. Construction is expected to be complete by January 2026.

“The driving factor for the hangar build is flexibility, not capacity,” says Doug Bohac, Duncan Aviation Enterprise Paint Manager. The Duncan Aviation facility in Lincoln paints roughly 105 aircraft each year and Duncan Aviation paints 250 aircraft enterprise-wide, which includes those painted at its Battle Creek, Michigan, and Provo, Utah, MROs. “We won’t be painting more aircraft in Lincoln. However, we will be able to offer clients better flexibility, especially those who want detailed, more intricate paint schemes that require more than one paint slot to complete.”

Bohac says the new facility will allow Duncan Aviation to support customers as they move into aircraft models as large as the G650, 10X, and GL-7500. It will also allow more flexibility to support unscheduled and drop-in work like paint touch-up, registration number changes, and other paint needs with short lead times.

Once the new facility is open, Duncan Aviation will decommission Paint Bays 1 & 2, which were built in 1990, and repurpose that space to support the overall needs of the organization. The 45,000-square-foot paint facility built in Lincoln in 2012 will continue to serve customers for many years to come.