Hawker Beech Services Returning to Northeast U.S.

After years with no factory-owned service center in the Northeast U.S., Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) has finalized an agreement to open a facility at New Castle Airport, in Wilmington, Del. HBC (formerly Raytheon Aircraft) used to have a Northeast facility at Atlantic City, which opened in 1999 and was sold in mid-2006. “Hawker Beechcraft has a large fleet of customers residing in the Northeastern United States where we have not had a factory-owned service center in place for many years,” said Christi Tannahill, HBC vice president, Global Customer Support. “Our customers have been requesting such a facility in the region and…we are responding to their interest.” The facility will be housed in the 60,000-sq-ft former MBNA corporate hangar, which the Delaware River and Bay Authority purchased for $5 million in 2007. HBC will update the facility with customer offices, including computers, Wi-Fi, printers and telephones and offer maintenance for the line of HBC aircraft. HBC’s initial lease term is for seven years with options for three additional five-year periods. The Authority and HBC are splitting the cost of facility improvements, and the Authority is financing construction of 7,000 sq ft of additional shop space.