North American MRO organisation Flying Colours is celebrating thirty years of MRO and interiors operations. Launched as an aircraft painting business by current president John Gillespie, the start-up quickly developed into an aircraft sales business in 1989 before evolving into a fully-fledged MRO and interiors operation.

Since inception the privately owned, family run company has grown from a small hangar dedicated to painting turboprops and small jets at Peterborough airport to an international company known for its maintenance capabilities, cabin interior design and completions, including on its branded CRJ ExecLiner. The company also has avionics expertise and can handle complex special mission projects. It is now the airport's largest tenant and is expanding with the addition of a fourth hangar measuring more than 100, 000 sq ft.

A second base was established in 2009 when Flying Colours purchased JetCorp Technical services in St. Louis, which became Flying Colours KSUS in 2013. The facility now consists of a 40,000 sq ft cabinetry and interiors facility along with a further 60,000 sq ft of hangars. Flying Colours then opened a Singapore interiors division at the Bombardier Seletar airport facility in 2015. A growing Asia Pacific-based team now provides a range of services from interior touch-ups to complete refurbishments for Bombardier aircraft based in the region. More than 500 employees now work for the company globally.

“It's a well-known fact that the business aviation sector is a competitive and challenging industry to succeed in, and we are extremely proud to be marking our thirtieth anniversary this year,” John Gillespie says. “In some ways it feels like we are just getting started as we still have a lot of exciting plans to implement over the next decades. It goes without saying that we would not have got to where we are without the support of our elite set of customers who value the fact we can deliver even the most complex project, along with our reliable long-term partners, and most importantly our highly motivated and skilled technical teams. As the years progress this will continue to grow.”