Duncan plans scaled-back facility at Provo airport

PROVO — Duncan Aviation, a company that operates maintenance facilities for business aircraft, is on target to open a scaled-down plant at the Provo Municipal Airport next summer.

On Tuesday the Provo City Council authorized Mayor Lewis Billings to sign a lease agreement with the company, based in Lincoln, Neb.

The company plans to open in August 2010, but instead of a new building, Duncan will lease 15,000 square feet of a hangar from Million Air Provo — space the company said will accommodate up to four aircraft and a team of 21 technicians.

The long-term plan is for a new facility at the airport that would employ 600 people.

Though that plan has been pushed back, Duncan general manager Bill Prochazka said Tuesday night's decision is a step forward.

"We plan to offer basic services next summer and to start construction on the new facility sometime in the next several years," Prochazka said in a prepared statement.

— Marc Haddock