Yingling Celebrates Its 75th Year With Expansion

Yingling Aviation is not only celebrating 75 years in business, but it’s also expanding its presence at Wichita’s Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (KICT). The company plans to add another 50,000 square feet of hangar and office space to the 200,000 square feet of facilities already comprising its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business and FBO.

In a news release, the company said, “Yingling is one of the original tenants on what is now known as Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, having moved its operations from Wichita Municipal Airport to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport upon its opening in 1954.” The company has also been a Cessna dealership since 1946. “The company’s long association with Cessna set the stage for its transformation and expansion over seven and a half decades into one of the nation’s most expansive and inclusive maintenance, repair and overhaul, sales, service and parts facilities and fixed base operations.” Throughout most of its existence, Yingling Aviation has been a family affair—first with the Yinglings and since 2000, the Nichols family. Lynn Nichols, who currently serves as CEO, purchased the firm that year and led it until handing the reins over to his son, Andrew, in 2019.

Starting in 2018 and through 2020, Yingling undertook its largest remodelling and expansion project since the company’s founding. According to the company, “in 2018, the first remodel project consisted of two new reception and lobby areas that support the FBO and customer areas. In 2019, the company completed a new 23,000 square-foot facility for expanded jet and turbine MRO services. In 2014, the company purchased a 10,000 square-foot warehouse to support their growing propeller operations.” The factory-authorized service facility for McCauley, MT, and Sensenich propellers—and FAA approved for Hartzell props—offers “a full range of services for its propeller customers. In 2020, Yingling completed its major facelift and renovation over its newly acquired 50,000 square-feet of facilities, which support [a] full-service paint facility and interior completions facility. Today, the company’s footprint now consists of over 250,000 square-feet of facilities and approximately 500,000 square-feet of ramp space.” Yingling has taken on numerous Cessna aircraft modification and refurbishment programs over the decades as well, with projects such as the Ascend 172.