Dan Air Engineering Limited was the maintenance arm of Dan Air Services Limited, itself a subsidiary of Davies and Newman, one of Britain's foremost wholly privately owned, independent ship broking and airline companies during the 1970s and 80s. Dan-Air Engineering was established in 1954 at Lasham Airfield to maintain the fledgling airline's rapidly growing fleet as well as to cater to the maintenance requirements of third parties. Further expansion followed in the 1980s, leading to the opening of a new widebody-capable maintenance facility at Gatwick, its sister airline's main operating base.