Maintenance, repair, overhaul and completions business Flying Colours has broken ground as work starts on building its largest hangar to date. Industrial construction company Vicano Construction Ltd braved cool Ontario weather to formally begin the fourth phase of expansion plans at the Canada-headquartered business aviation company.

On completion in mid-2019 the new building will house a climate controlled, dedicated paint shop, a hangar large enough to hold up to A220-size aircraft, as well as offices, customer meeting rooms, interiors workshops and a board room. The investment of approximately Can$25 million will add a further 100,000 sq ft to the Peterborough footprint.

“Our business has grown significantly over the last 12 months and we were running out of space to accommodate all our clients' requests. Once the building is complete we will be using it to provide additional capacity for completions, refurbishment and heavy maintenance work scopes on large jet airframes,” says John Gillespie about the expansion. At the company's Chesterfield, St Louis, facility a fifth hangar, a leased building, is undergoing preparations to open for business in January 2019 adding a further 40, 000 sq ft to the KSUS facility.

More than 100 team members are currently being recruited across both sites to bolster the increased demand as the search for maintenance, interiors and paint expertise leads the recruitment drive.