Air Capital Interiors sees new possibilities with FAA certificate

Air Capital Interiors has something now it didn’t when it opened less than two years ago: a Federal Aviation Administration repair station certificate.

The Wichita aircraft interiors company received the certification this month, which should lead to more business, Air Capital president Rod Wilson said Wednesday.

The company has worked on the interiors of a variety of general aviation airplanes – about 40 in all – from a Piper Archer single piston-engine airplane to a Gulfstream IV large cabin business jet, he said. But when it came time to sign off on the interiors work and return the aircraft to service, it had to be done by a different firm that had an FAA repair station certificate.

The absence of a certificate obviously didn’t preclude Air Capital from doing the work and bringing in revenue. And to some customers it didn’t matter.

But, Wilson said, it did matter to another segment of potential customers that Air Capital was missing out on.

“Now we can cross that threshold and expand our business,” Wilson said.

He said the 10-employee company applied in December 2013 to begin the process of earning its FAA repair station certificate, but had to wait until January 2015 to start the process. From there, it took about six months to earn the Part 145 certificate.

The company was founded in October 2013 and is owned by Wilson, operations director Terry Crumrine, CEO Matt Henry and Don Henry.

The Henrys also own the Appearance Group, a Wichita-based corporate aircraft cleaning and detailing company, which has operations at 26 airports across the country.

The Henrys approached Wilson about launching Air Capital Interiors. He had previously worked for United Technologies’ aircraft interiors operation in Wichita and its predecessors, Precision Pattern and DeCrane/Goodrich Cabin Systems. Crumrine had also worked there.

Air Capital operates out of 9,500 square feet at 9424 E. 37th St. North, next to the Appearance Group and across Webb Road from Jabara Airport.

Air Capital offers repair, refurbishment and replacement of aircraft interiors, including cabinets, seats, carpeting and paneling. Wilson said the company focuses on aftermarket aircraft.

He said the repair station certificate allows Air Capital to be able to sign off on the interiors of all but one Cessna Citation business jet model – the X and its updated variant, the X-Plus.

“We’ll expand that to the Citation X … and it’s logical for us to expand into King Airs, Barons and Bonanzas,” Wilson said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Air Capital Interiors sees new possibilities with FAA certificate."