Founder Dale Dunn launched DunnAir Business Jet Completion Center in 2004, and the company opened for business in Tucson, Ariz., in February 2005 with high hopes for success. Today, the 255,000-sq-ft hangar is empty, the phones have been disconnected and no one from DunnAir was available for comment regarding the closing. Jim Garcia, senior director of business development for the airport authority, confirmed that DunnAir had shut down, noting that the center had been using only two bays of the hangar but was paying $108,000 a month to rent the entire facility and experiencing financial difficulties.

Faced with lease negotiation difficulties and delays in getting an FAA repair station certificate, DunnAir opened more than six months later than planned. By late last year the company had laid off most of its workforce while investment conditions were restructured.

DunnAir leased the facility from Bombardier, which had used the space as an
aircraft completion facility and had a long-term lease agreement with the airport authority for the property and hangar at the rate of $285,000 a year. With 18 years left on the lease, Bombardier and the airport authority are looking for a new tenant for the space. Bombardier continues to operate maintenance facilities in Tucson, but not at that particular hangar.