With new product offerings such as the Premier I (100 fuselages
now built) and the Hawker Horizon (flight test program back on
track after earlier delay), the emphasis for Raytheon over the
coming months will be a freshening of the Wichita company's older
offerings.
With that in mind, Raytheon will be showing on static display
here at Orlando a King Air 350 upgraded with Pro Line 21 avionics
from Rockwell Collins. A mockup of a King Air 200 cockpit with
the Pro Line 21 system can also be seen at the Raytheon Booth
2183.
"It cleans up the cockpit appearance and functionality,
and takes the King Air to the current technology levels of the
Premier I and Hawker 800XP," said Brad Hatt, president of
Raytheon Aircraft's Hawker Division. "It gives (operators)
a natural flow from the King Air to the Hawker."
Hatt, along with Raytheon Aircraft president Jim Schuster,
is flying to Orlando in one of the three Hawker Horizons in Raytheon's
flight test program, he told Show News. A second Horizon
will remain on static display during the show.
With 700 flight test hours logged among the three Horizons, the
program is about half finished, and scheduled for certification
in mid-2004 and first delivery by the end of 2004. "There
were delays early in the program, but we have hit our marks over
the last two years," reported Hatt. "The performance
we're seeing out of the airplane-speed, landing and takeoff distances-are
great."
Thirty-plus Horizons have been sold, and there is a delivery
backlog until 2007.
Sales of all Raytheon aircraft in 2003 are expected to be slightly
better than last year. Projections are for 268 deliveries, not
including military trainers: 46 Hawker 800XPs, 18 Hawker 400XPs,
78 King Airs, 49 Premier Is, and 77 Bonanza and Baron pistons.
That compares to 257 total sales in 2002.
Said Hatt, "I think we're the only manufacturer not to
cut production lines in the last year."
With decent sales numbers for the year, Hatt said it will be
particularly important for Raytheon to keeps its eye on after-sales
support, particularly spare parts availability -- something it
wasn't known for in the past. "If an airplane is AOG and
you can't provide parts it will lead to bitter feelings on the
part of people who fly your products," he said.
Since 2001, Raytheon has improved is availability of spare parts
from 58 % to 89 % in 2002, to an expected 94 % this year, according
to Hatt, who added, "We've had a renewed focus (on customer
support) over the past 18 months."
The second area of after-sales emphasis for Raytheon has been
in AOG (aircraft on the ground) support. Unbelievably, Hatt said
that the company took an average of 14 days to respond to an AOG
situation in 2001. Today, that figure is down to 13 hours -- in
essence, same-day response.
