Indianapolis aviation companies plan significant expansions
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Indianapolis-based Dabico A-Bridge LLC and its parent company, Dabico Airport Solutions LLC, are planning to expand their local operations and add 151 new jobs over the next 15 months.
Both companies make equipment for the aviation industry.
A-Bridge, which launched in 1987, rebuilds passenger bridges—the enclosed walkways that passengers use to board and exit an airplane. The company starts with old bridges, strips them down to their metal frames and rebuilds them with all-new components. The company currently has 34 employees at its facility at 5425 Poindexter Drive in Lawrence.
Dabico Airport Solutions makes ground power units that serve as an external power source airplanes can tap into while parked at the gate. The company was previously based in California but moved its headquarters here last year after acquiring A-Bridge in January 2023.
Dabico currently has 66 employees at its facility at 5740 Decatur Blvd. in the Ameriplex industrial park. Including its 100 Indianapolis employees, the company has a total global workforce of just more than 240, with additional sites in Miami, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Jason Summers, the managing director at A-Bridge and the vice president of Dabico’s North American operations, said both companies are planning Indianapolis expansions.
A-Bridge plans to expand by building a second facility adjacent to its existing Lawrence site, adding 20,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity. The city of Lawrence is currently reviewing those plans, Summers said, and once the plans are approved, A-Bridge will break ground on the new building, with the goal to have it up and running in six or seven months.
Across town, Dabico is looking to add a second location to its operations. Summers said the company hasn’t yet settled on a location but wants to find something close to its existing site. “We’d like to stay within about five miles of Ameriplex because that’s the main facility, and it’s going to continue to be the main facility.”
Summers said the expansions are fueled by the influx of money available to airports through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The legislation, which passed in 2021, provides $1.2 trillion in funding for various infrastructure needs, including $25 billion specifically for airport projects.
“Airports are finally getting the funding they need to update,” Summers said.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is offering A-Bridge and Dabico up to $2.3 million in state tax credits and another $100,000 in training credits based on the companies’ plans to invest $3.9 million and hire 151 new employees by the end of 2025. The incentives will be paid only if the companies meet hiring commitments.