More British workers now have jobs with Hawker business jets in the UK than before final assembly was moved to Wichita last year, according to Raytheon Aircraft.

Doubling of production, and the opening of an engineering and service center at Chester last year, have created more jobs on the Hawker program than existed before, the company claims. Raytheon delivered the 1,000th Hawker business jet this year; it sold 33 in 1977 versus 26 the year before, taking half the world market in its class, and selling out production until late next year. The fuselages and wings are manufactured in the UK by British Aerospace.

In 1993, Raytheon acquired Corporate Jets, Inc., from British Aerospace and renamed the business Raytheon Corporate Jets; a year later, the company merged Beech Aircraft with Raytheon Corporate Jets, creating Raytheon Aircraft Company.

With completion of Hawker assembly transfer from Chester to Wichita, the Chester facility was merged into the Raytheon Aircraft Services network as the organization's first international location.

The 67,000-square-foot building, which was previously used for manufacturing aircraft, more than doubles the amount of available service space at Raytheon Aircraft Services-Chester. The remodeled building provides an improved pilots' lounge and customer offices, as well as areas for the company's engineering and support functions. An existing 60,000-square-foot hangar will continue to be used for service and includes a new aircraft paint facility.

The renovation allows RAS-C to increase the number and type of aircraft that can be serviced. In addition to the facility's recognized work on the Hawker, it has already handled its first Beechjet, Raytheon's popular light jet.

"This year, we will make the necessary investment to provide maintenance work on the Beech King Air line," said Ian Atkinson, general manager of the RAS-C facility. "We are also developing a plan to handle the newest generation of business jets now in development, the Raytheon Premier I and the Hawker Horizon."