Duncan Aviation has seen a recent leadership change: As of Jan. 1, Jeff Lake retained the CEO part of his job, and Mike Minchow took over as president. Lake and Minchow join Lee Ann Shay to discuss the transition, aftermarket trends and their outlook for business aviation services in 2025.
Lee Ann Shay:
Welcome to the BCA podcast. I'm Leanne Shea Aviation Week Networks executive editor for MRO and Business Aviation. And today's topic is the new leadership at Duncan Aviation. The aircraft service provider based in Lincoln, Nebraska announced changes to its senior leadership program at the beginning of the year. So as of January 1st, Jeff Lake, who is Duncan Aviation's, CEO, and president split his role. Jeff remains the CEO and is responsible for the company's vision and long-term strategy. And Mike Minow, formerly COO, as seeing the role of president and is now responsible for the day-to-day company oversight. Jeff and Mike, welcome to the podcast. So you both joined Duncan Aviation in 1993. What a great year for the company. Jeff, you were the company's controller, and Mike, you came aboard as a designer working on your master's degree in architecture. When do you remember meeting each other?
Jeff Lake:
Mike's memory is probably better than mine. Mine, I'm getting old now, so yeah, my memory, but Mike and I have known each other for a long time. I can't remember when we first met each other.
Mike Minchow:
No, probably when Jeff was in his role as COO and I was an emerging manager within the company. Again, our managers get an opportunity to participate and work together with our senior management team, so it was probably something along those lines many, many years ago.
Lee Ann Shay:
Sounds good. Okay, so you weren't in the same employee introduction class or something like that?
Mike Minchow:
Jeff started in, Jeff started in April, and I actually started in November while we were in the 93 class, just about six months apart.
Lee Ann Shay:
Okay, good to know. So fast forward to today. Now let's talk about your new roles and how is the transition going? Jeff, let's start with you.
Jeff Lake:
Well, from my perspective, very easy. Again, Mike and I have worked together for a long time. The senior team has worked together for a long time and so this was something that Mike and I have been planning really for a couple of years now, several years. So kind of knew that I wanted to back off at the end of 2025 and that we wanted to have a plan for additional people coming onto the senior team. That is one thing that we would like to make sure that we've got a senior team that's got a lot of experience and we wanted to bring people in. We tend to hire from within. Very few of our senior team members have ever been hired externally, and so Mike and I have been working on this for quite some time that we were going to transition this. And so really this was kind of a plan succession planning and also gives us an opportunity with Mike coming up as president.
Then we've replaced Mike with a COO, Casey Harwick, who has also been here almost 25 years, not quite 25 years. So a lot of experience for Casey. And then with Casey moving up to the COO that allows us to bring somebody up as a vice president of maintenance. So that's going to add another person to our senior team. So this has really been kind of a planned one and Mike and I tend to think an awful lot alike, and Mike's just really easy to get along with. He's done a great job within the company and so to me it's gone very, very seamlessly. I would say customers wouldn't even recognize any change at the company.
Lee Ann Shay:
Sounds good. Well, Mike, from your standpoint, it sounds like your role has been transitioning for a while.
Mike Minchow:
Yeah, it has and I agree with Jeff. It's been a smooth transition, partly due to the fact that, as Jeff mentioned, succession planning is extremely important for our organization, whether it's at the senior leadership level, down to managers, assistant managers, team leads, crew leads, and we take that very serious and we really are intentional about ensuring on an annual basis we sit down and talk about who would succeed us in our role. So for me personally, I've been on the senior team 10 plus years, but I've had the opportunity to work with both Jeff and also Aaron Kelman, who was the previous president prior to that. And so again, getting that opportunity to learn from them, that's why we want to identify those who is going to be our successor because it gives us that opportunity to get them engaged as various activities that we're currently working on today so that they can learn and grow and it's not just something green to them when they are put in that new role or we do make that transition. So it's important for us. I think it helps prepare us and makes this transition fairly seamless. So to that effect, I think this transition over the last month has been fairly smooth and seamless and hopefully if we're not hearing from anybody, it has gone smooth both inside and outside the organization as well.
Lee Ann Shay:
Well, that sounds good. So I guess that's the next question. Have you heard from anybody inside outside and what should customers expect for your external customers? Any changes coming
Mike Minchow:
Really from a customer's perspective? Hopefully they don't see any impact. We lead as a team, we're still one Duncan Aviation as a family, and so really hopefully they don't see much change. We have received a lot of congratulations from our industry peers out in the industry, but as far as what we want to impress upon our customers is really we don't see that it should be any impact to them. We just want to continue to provide great service and support to our customers
Jeff Lake:
Would we are very much a relationship business. And so Mike and I know an awful lot of our customers. We have customers here on site all the time, and so many of our customers will come talk to Mike, they'll come and talk to me. And so it's been somewhat interchangeable I would say over the last several years. So I really don't see much impact there to the customers.
Lee Ann Shay:
Beautiful. So let's switch gears to just the outlook for 2025. In addition to the leadership transitions, what should we expect from Duncan Aviation in 2025? Any business goals that you can talk about? Any strategy changes, new capabilities,
Mike Minchow:
Talking about the business, A couple of the things that we're excited about, we've been undertaking a multi-year expansion plan here. We finished our two hanger expansions last year, one in Battle Creek, a 46,000 square foot hanger. We added another 46,000 square foot hanger here in Lincoln. This year we'll be wrapping up our paint expansion year in Lincoln and also win the engine shop expansion, which we're super excited about as well, which will give us the ability to expand into the Pratt engine business. Back in 2023, we received a authorization from Pratt to become a designated overhaul facility on the 300 and 500 series engines. And so just over the last I would say 12 to 18 months, we've been working on the planning, finalizing the architectural drawings, the facility construction is underway. We'll be adding about 40,000 additional square feet here in Lincoln to do engine overhauls hot sections as well as we'll be adding a second engine test cell here in Lincoln.
Plan completion of that is late this year into early 2026, so we're excited about that. And then just business as general engine and airframe business continues to be very robust. We continue to have a very strong backlog and that part of our business and even in some of our other areas, connectivity is a big part of our business this year. We see a lot of work, whether it's through Gogo or starlink or some of the other industry providers there in connectivity solutions and we know that's going to keep us busy well into next year as well. So we're encouraged with that level of activity we're seeing in our avionics business as well. Yeah, so I would say those are some of the things that we're excited about this year and are going to keep us busy.
Jeff Lake:
Yeah, the only thing I would add, I think Mike hit it on the head there. The only thing I would add is just team members. It continues to be a challenge out there on the market. So as Mike said, demand is very, very strong and it's harder and harder to find people. And so we've been focusing on retaining team members, developing team members training, but also recruiting. And so we're going to have to continue to stay in front of that. As Mike said, we just added two large hangers. We need to add more people for that. We need to add more people for shifts. And so Dunking Aviation, even though we have great facilities, our reputation really stands on the shoulders of our team members and just their expertise and the quality of work that they do. And so it's very important to us that we continue to retain, attract, and then develop those team members to keep really Duncan Aviation moving in the future for us.
Lee Ann Shay:
Jeff, can you share, the workforce is tight and emro demand is strong. So in addition to retaining people, can you share any of the ways that you're recruiting and retaining people just to keep that workforce?
Jeff Lake:
Yes, it has gotten, I would say a much worse now obviously after Covid, quite honestly, we saw this probably 10 years ago. We do strategic planning, but we also do long range planning. And so about 10 years ago we looked out and we said, boy, there's going to be a lot of retirement starting really in the mid 2000 twenties, 2025 on there's going to be that baby boomer group is going to retire and it's going to impact Duncan Aviation. It's going to impact our industry. It's really going to impact all businesses. We looked and saw that thousands, tens of thousands of technicians would be retiring out of the industry, largely out of the commercial airline area. And so it really was a concern for us. And so years ago, even before Covid, we started really our apprentice program at that time. And so it's a way that yes, we still rely on the schools to get a lot of our A MP technicians.
We still work with high schools, but we knew we had to take some of that on ourselves. And so we develop our own apprentice program and that way we can get our AM PS onsite. They get trained here, they're working, they get paid. They don't really have to go through the school if they would rather not go that avenue. And because of that, we've now gone through quite a few new team members through that apprentice program. I think we're well over a hundred, I think around 140, 150 that have already gone through it. We have another 80 technicians in that program presently. At the same time, we've partnered with a number of the high schools, local high schools, in fact one of the high schools here in Lincoln. We ended up working with the public schools to build a wing there for the aviation industry and really to continue to develop that. High school now has well over 200. Mike probably knows better than I do, I think 200 plus students in that aviation program. And so it's really going to be incumbent upon really all of us in the industry to attract people into our aviation industry because it is going to be more and more of a challenge. And I think our message there is it's not going to improve any, it's only probably going to get worse over the next several years as there are more and more retirements.
Lee Ann Shay:
Does it help though, to have that new engine shop coming on board, the new paint capacity, just new capabilities, new technology?
Mike Minchow:
It doesn't hurt, but like we say to the newness of that eventually wears off. And that's where we want to then fall back on the culture of the company, the work environment that we want to create this work environment that people love to come to work every single day, that they're working alongside their friends. They understand the why, the impact that they make, not only on their fellow team members' lives, but also why we do what we do every day to keep these aircraft safe compliant and deliver some outstanding products back to our customers. So it definitely doesn't hurt. I mean, again, we've been blessed to be able to reinvest back in our facilities to create these work environments that are a joy to come to work, but we really want to maintain that focus on this culture, the organizational culture, keeping a strong family environment here that we all can continue to learn and grow and have long lasting careers.
Again, Jeff and I have been blessed to have careers that have lasted over 30 years with Duncan, and that's what we envision for the next generation and many generations beyond that, that they can have a place they can come and work for 30 plus years. I know what I will say, this is something that Robert, Karen Duncan started years ago. It's called the Silver Wings Club, and it's a little special club. It recognizes those team members who have been with an organization with Duncan in particular for over 25 years. And I think we have over 650 team members now that have reached that milestone in their career. Some have retired, but once you reach that milestone, you're a Silver Wings member for life, so to speak. And so I was just very, very proud of the longevity, the expertise that we've been able to develop and keep and retain over the years.
Lee Ann Shay:
So you mentioned 30 years. What are, looking back at your careers so far, is there anything that really surprises you if you're looking back at to your 1993 self and you know, were looking at today like, wow, I never saw that coming or really surprised.
Mike Minchow:
One thing is just the size of the aircraft that we're working on today. I remember thinking one of the first, what I thought was large aircraft back in the day was the Falcon 50. We were working on mainly citations in Leers back then. In the first Falcon that we saw. I thought, man, that's a big aircraft. And then you fast forward 30 years later to today where we're working on Gulfstream G six fifties and global, 75 hundreds, just the sheer size of the aircraft and then everything, the size of the components and everything that goes along with it, it's just been a tremendous change in our industry.
Jeff Lake:
Another item. Yeah, I was going to mention that one that Mike did and the other one, when Mike and I started here, we did very little if any international business, very little, and I can't even remember Mike if we did much at all because again, like Mike said, we were mainly working on Leers and Cessnas and we didn't see much at all in the larger aircraft. And so now about 20% of our business comes from outside the United States. And so we thoroughly enjoy working with customers from really all over the world. And so that's been a big part of our business, a big part of our growth. And I would say a big part of our enjoyment too. We thoroughly enjoy working with really customers from all over the world.
Lee Ann Shay:
Speaking of that, business aviation is growing, there's more demand for the mature aircraft. So given that emro demand seems to be outpacing supply, how is that really affecting duck and aviation in the next year or two? Is it mostly people in recruiting and retaining the people like we've already talked about or other factors?
Mike Minchow:
One thing to note there too, yeah, it definitely all starts with the people, but the people are also instrumental in establishing the plan. We talk a lot about just maybe some supply chain challenges that we've had in the industry, labor challenges that not only affect us, but potentially some of our other industry partners. And so again, that's just the a key component right now going forward that we don't see changing over the next several years is just the importance of planning the projects, getting ahead of it as best you can, ensuring you got allocation of not only labor resources, but parts resources as well to ensure a successful and on-time delivery of the project.
Jeff Lake:
Another thing I would mention that talking about an impact to really not just dunking but the industry. But again, years ago when Mike and I and for a number of years, this has really just changed recently, but you could take an aircraft four or six weeks out if we had a four or six week backlog. We were really happy at Dunking. And so customers, quite honestly, even 6, 7, 8 years ago, you could call and get an aircraft in the next month. That's completely changed really, especially after Covid. Now our backlog is six to eight months and it's affected the really, the industry pre-buy used to be a big part of our business. So if a company is selling an aircraft or they want to buy one, they could call and they could get it in. And now we just hear that's a terrible struggle. And that used to be a real big part of our business and we still desire that business.
But it's more and more of a challenge for Duncan and more of a challenge in the industry, finding variable resources, available resources and it's hanger space. But it's also, as you mentioned, Leanne, it's labor. You might have hanger space, but a lot of times people don't have the labor resources to do that. So that's probably what I would say. One of the biggest challenges right now is that the amount of demand, probably as you said, really has outstripped capacity. And right now Duncan Aviation, we'll see how the market goes for a while, but we don't have any immediate plans for an additional expansion. And so that will remain to be seen what happens over the next couple of years.
Lee Ann Shay:
Jeff, I'm glad you brought about pre-buy inspections. So if someone called you and said, Hey, I'm going to be buying an aircraft. Can I get it in for a pre-buy inspection, is it possible to do that or because you're full of scheduled longer term big projects, you just can't accommodate them?
Jeff Lake:
Well, we're going to try to accommodate, but it is much more of a challenge. And Mike can answer this as well, but Mike and I both have been involved in that. We do everything we can to do that, but quite simply, many times we will always give 'em a yes, but it might be two or three months from now. It's not going to be two or three weeks from now. So yeah, Mike, you get those calls as well.
Mike Minchow:
Yeah, and it's, the importance is we want to continue to have the dialogue with the customers because you never know. It's a dynamic industry. Things are changing all the time, but it feels like more often than not. And we'd rather say no than say yes and overcommit and under deliver on anything. So sometimes that answer just comes back that well, maybe no, not until a later date. At least they understand the dynamics that go into that decision.
Lee Ann Shay:
It sounds like your customers should just plan as far out as they can. Planning, planning, planning.
Jeff Lake:
Yes. That would be our message. It's the plan out into the future, and we are seeing customers do a much better job with that now that is occurring.
Lee Ann Shay:
Sounds good. Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for talking with me today. I really appreciate your time and good luck with this transition. It sounds like it's going to be a dynamic and fun year for both of you. And that's a wrap for this BCA podcast. Don't miss the next episode by subscribing to the BCA podcast wherever you listen to them. And one last request. If you're listening in Apple Podcasts, please consider leaving us a star rating or writing a review. Thank you so much.
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