Hawker Beechcraft Announces Opening of New Facility in Mesa, Arizona

Maintenance hangar now operational with state-of-the-art customer facility to open in November

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation today enhanced the industry’s largest factory-owned service center network with the opening of the newest Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) aircraft maintenance facility at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA) in Mesa, Ariz. Today marks the completion of the first of two phases of a state-of-the-art factory service center. Phase two, scheduled to be completed by November 2009, includes an additional hangar, customer amenities and administrative offices. The Mesa facility will serve as the Southwest regional service center for HBS replacing the Van Nuys, Calif., location that will close March 31, 2009. The new Mesa HBS facility will ensure the world-class customer service and support expected from the industry’s largest factory-owned service center network.

“HBS conducted an extensive evaluation of the Southwest for our new regional service center,” said Andy Plyler, vice president, Hawker Beechcraft Services. “Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport was far superior in terms of location, economic infrastructure and a customer-friendly business environment. Mesa also averages 325 days of sunshine, so it is an ideal maintenance destination year round. This solid foundation will help us successfully serve our customers in this region of the United States.”

HBS is leasing 5.1 acres on the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport with an option to expand to 10.7 acres in the future. Opening today is a newly constructed 26,000 square foot hangar recently acquired by HBS to accommodate customers’ maintenance needs. Scheduled to open in November is a second 26,000 square foot hangar plus 22,000 square feet of back shops to include a spacious lobby and administrative offices. HBS is also investing to make its facilities look and feel like the customer’s home office. The expanded space will offer guest offices for customers to use while their aircraft is being serviced, with each workspace supplying full office amenities including computers, Wi-Fi access, printers and phones.

The new location is a full-service Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility offering airframe, avionics, engine and Aircraft on Ground (AOG) support for the company’s entire aircraft line. It is staffed with a factory-trained and highly-experienced team of maintenance technicians.

“Our focus is to be recognized as number one by our customers by giving them benefits unsurpassed by any other provider,” said Bill Brown, HBC president, Global Customer Service and Support. “Mesa is the perfect location to show our commitment to leverage both location and value. It complements our existing network of company-owned stores and reinforces our dedication to providing world-class customer service and support.”

In addition to Mesa, HBS is expanding customer service and maintenance offerings at six other U.S. locations. The most recent was a groundbreaking for a state-of-the-art service center to replace its existing Indianapolis facility.

Headquartered in Wichita, HBS has 12 existing service centers located across the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom. The HBS network of factory-owned service centers provide professional aircraft maintenance and repair with readily available access to its knowledge base of company expertise and engineering data.

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation is a world-leading manufacturer of business, special-mission and trainer aircraft – designing, marketing and supporting aviation products and services for businesses, governments and individuals worldwide. The company’s headquarters and major facilities are located in Wichita, Kan., with operations in Salina, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Chester, England, U.K.; and Chihuahua, Mexico. The company leads the industry with the largest number of factory-owned service centers and a global network of more than 100 factory-owned and authorized service centers. For more information, visit www.hawkerbeechcraft.com.