Hawker Beechcraft

Hawker Beechcraft

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) is an American aerospace manufacturing company that builds the Beechcraft and Hawker business jet lines of aircraft. The company headquarters is in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with maintenance and manufacturing locations worldwide. The history of Hawker Beechcraft originated in 1994 when Raytheon merged its Beech Aircraft Corporation and Raytheon Corporate Jets units.

In 2006, Raytheon sold the company to a consortium of Goldman Sachs and Onex Corporation. This deal left the company with a heavy burden of debt which it struggled to support from the economic crisis of 2008 onwards. In April 2012 it defaulted on interest payments and was in breach of banking covenants; this caused widespread speculation that it would enter bankruptcy.

On 3 May 2012, the company entered bankruptcy, filing voluntary petitions under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The bankruptcy resulted in the company accepting an offer to be purchased by Superior Aviation Beijing although on 18 October 2012 the negotiations for the transaction had failed and the company committed to ceasing jet production, exiting bankruptcy on its own and under a new name, Beechcraft Corporation.

Read more about Hawker Beechcraft:  History, Facilities