Founded

1988

Headquarters

Lexington, Kentucky

Key People

Todd Case, president; Joe Otte, vice president

Number of Employees

60

Phone Number

(859) 255-1902

Website

Thoroughbred Aviation Maintenance

Thoroughbred Aviation Maintenance

Thoroughbred Aviation Maintenance (TAM) provides aircraft maintenance and refurbishment services at locations in Kentucky and West Virginia. In addition, it offers ground handling for corporate and commercial flights out of Lexington, Kentucky’s Blue Grass Airport in the heart of horse-racing country. 

The company was founded in 1988 as Thoroughbred Helicopters at Georgetown-Scott County Airport, about 30 miles north of Lexington, where it still serves as an FAA-certified repair station for various models of MD Helicopter, Bell, Robinson, and Schweizer rotorcraft. Nicholasville, Kentucky–based R.J. Corman Railroad Group acquired the business in 2004 and renamed it R.J. Corman Aircraft Maintenance. 

In 2016, R.J. Corman employee Joe Otte—who had joined the company in 2009 and oversaw the aircraft maintenance division from the Nicholasville headquarters—purchased that division with his business partner, Todd Case. They restored the Thoroughbred name and began to expand operations with Case as president and Otte as vice president. The company opened maintenance facilities at airports in Danville and Somerset (30 miles southwest and 50 miles south of Lexington, respectively) and started offering aircraft on ground (AOG) mobile response capability from Somerset.

In 2017, TAM established another AOG mobile response unit at Central Kentucky Regional Airport in Richmond, about 30 miles southeast of Lexington, and set up a full-service aircraft painting facility at Big Sandy Regional Airport in Prestonburg, about 90 miles east of Lexington. That same year, the company won five-year contracts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to upgrade and maintain two Airbus H120 helicopters, including avionics installations and interior refurbishment.

Thoroughbred expanded into Lexington proper in 2018 with the acquisition of Mustang Aviation, a service center for Cessna, Cirrus, and Diamond aircraft. Based at Blue Grass Airport, Mustang had specialized in turbine engine maintenance, full-service avionics, and stocking parts for piston, turboprop, and jet aircraft. Thoroughbred kept these capabilities and added ground handling for corporate and commercial aircraft, becoming the only Airbus service center in the state. 

In 2021 the company opened its new headquarters at Blue Grass Airport while also expanding outside Kentucky with a general aviation maintenance facility at Huntington Tri-State Airport in West Virginia. Thoroughbred also announced an $800,000 investment project at the Blue Grass site aimed at creating 47 full-time aircraft technician, sheet metal specialist, avionics, and administrative jobs over the next three years. 

Note that TAM is not affiliated with Louisville, Kentucky–based Thoroughbred Aviation.