Groupe Aviatech was founded in 2002 by Carl Duguay, who is still its president. (Photo: Julien Gauthier)

— By Julien B. Gauthier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Le Lac St-Jean

Groupe Aviatech recently announced a $1.8M investment for the construction of a second hangar. The new building will allow the company to service larger aircraft.

Based at Alma Airport, Groupe Aviatech is a company specializing in machining, maintenance and painting services for the aviation industry. This third expansion project will see Aviatech’s total surface area expand from 10,800 to 19,800 square feet. Construction is scheduled to be completed around March 2022.

This new hangar will be added to the current building, which already houses administrative offices, a machining workshop, and another hangar.

Groupe Aviatech currently rents a hangar from the City of Alma, located approximately 100 metres from the company’s location.

“This will save us the trouble of constantly transporting materials between locations. Furthermore, we will be able to work on larger aircraft, including those of Panorama Aviation, one of our major clients. This also allows us to improve cost-effectiveness and performance,” explained Carl Duguay, Groupe Aviatech’s president and founder.

Specialties
Founded in 2002, Groupe Aviatech specializes in four areas, the first of which is aircraft maintenance. The company repairs, rebuilds, and restores helicopters and airplanes.

“We started off by working on private ultralight aircraft, but eventually we went and got our mechanic certifications.”

The company regularly performs maintenance and repairs for various aircraft types such as Beechcraft 1900D, Pilatus PC-12, Cessna, and Piper, as well as Astar 350 and Bell 206 helicopters.

Groupe Aviatech also specializes in aircraft painting, including stripping and priming, machining, as well as plans and designs.

Clients
The company’s client list spans the entire province. Besides Panorama Aviation, which is also based in Alma, its clients include Cargair (Saint-Honoré), Max Aviation (Saint-Hubert), Groupe Gilbert (Chicoutimi), Propair (Rouyn-Noranda), and Kudlik Aviation (L’Ancienne-Lorette).

According to Carl Duguay, the pandemic had a positive impact on the company’s business. “During the first two to three months, everything stopped. But afterwards, aviation companies took advantage of this forced period of inactivity to do maintenance, repairs and restorations.”

Groupe Aviatech currently has 26 employees.