Cheney firm launches subsidiary
XN Technologies, based in Cheney, has launched a subsidiary called XN Avionics LLC to provide and install avionics equipment for aircraft owners and operators.
The subsidiary now uses a leased hangar at Spokane International Airport and plans to build its own hangar later this year, said John Hale, president of XN Avionics. The company has five employees, not counting Hale.
Avionics companies install and repair the assorted radio and electronic communications systems used aboard aircraft.
Hale said XN Avionics’ focus will be small aircraft operators and some business jets. “It will be everything shy of the high-end corporate jets,” he said.
The company’s new eight-bay hangar will be constructed at Spokane International Airport’s general aviation area, south of Pilot Drive, Hale said. The hangar should be finished sometime this summer, he said.
The parent firm, XN Technologies, develops and sells signal-processing products used by government agencies, the military and corporate customers.
Some of its newer products have been focused on aviation users. In particular, the company plans to develop cockpit communications systems that comply with new avionics standards established by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
That new standard will require most private and commercial aircraft to modify their equipment over the next two years, Hale said.
AS XN Technologies looked at aviation as a niche, it made sense to create a subsidiary to serve that market, said Al Hale, president of XN Technologies. John Hale, his son, served in the U.S. Air Force for six years and now is an active Air Force reservist.
Though based in Spokane, XN Avionics plans to offer its services regionally. “We’ve already begun working in North Idaho, in Sandpoint and at Coeur d’Alene,” Hale said.
Spokane has two other companies in the same line of work, Felts Field Aviation and Western Avionics. Both operate at Felts Field.
“We’re not out to put anyone out of business,” said Hale. “There’s enough work for all of us.”