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Hawker Beechcraft Sees Flat Bizav Deliveries
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: In its first-half earnings conference call this morning, Hawker Beechcraft announced its $487 million in new orders exceeded its cancellations of $80 milli
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In its first-half earnings conference call this morning, Hawker Beechcraft announced its $487 million in new orders exceeded its cancellations of $80 million, marking the airframer’s ninth consecutive quarter of gain. However, the Wichita manufacturer noted its revenues in the business and general aviation segment decreased by 17.4 percent in the second quarter over the same period in the previous year. “We continue to post losses driven primarily by performance in the business and general aviation segment,” said company chairman and CEO Bill Boisture. “Ongoing market concerns in Europe and around the globe continue to dampen the confidence of buyers worldwide, which is evidenced by the continued softness in our primary segments, especially the light and midsize jet market.” The company’s bizav deliveries remained virtually static with 89 aircraft handed over to date in 2011, versus 88 in the first half of last year. The manufacturer said it has experienced supply disruptions involving software certifications; these disruptions have affected the deliveries of the Hawker 4000 and delayed the transition of manufacturing work on King Airs from Wichita to third-party providers and Hawker Beechcraft’s Mexico facility. These have caused deferrals of some aircraft deliveries planned for the second quarter. HBC expects to resolve those supply issues later in the year, but the company expects they will result in fewer than planned deliveries of Hawker 4000s and King Airs in the second half of the year as well.