Over the next five years, Hawker Beechcraft officials say they expect sales growth outside of North America to continue to outpace sales growth within North America. Officials also say they are beginning to see “stabilization in key market indicators and are cautiously optimistic that market recovery will begin in 2012.”
”We are seeing growth potential in emerging markets including Africa, Asia, China, India, the Middle East, Russia and South America,” said Sean McGeough, Hawker Beechcraft President of Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Overall, the drivers of demand for new aircraft purchases are slowly returning to pre-financial crisis levels, and demand is currently stronger in these emerging markets than in North America and Europe.”
The installed base of aircraft in Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America is between 20 and 25% of the base in the U.S. In Asia, the corresponding figure is just 6%, he said.
“There are a number of reasons for this variation around the world, including the availability of financing tools, customer service issues and a lack of parts supply programs,” McGeough said. “We see many of these issues as an opportunity for Hawker Beechcraft. With increased globalization and regulatory liberalization, barriers to growth in these markets are falling.”
Despite the recent difficult market conditions, Hawker Beechcraft officials say they have invested significantly in its operations in these areas of the world, which include the placement of leadership in the regions, product development, customer support and sales financing programs, declaring, “These investments will enable the company to take full advantage of the expected recovery in the business/private aviation sector.”
Throughout last year, Hawker Beechcraft carried out in-depth discussions with more than 3,000 owners and operators and established a customer advisory board consisting of 50 owners from 30 countries. Hawker Beechcraft has analyzed the data and used its insights to drive product and service improvements, according to company officials.
“A key result of this strategic approach is that we have developed new aircraft that are created with more than just the U.S. market in mind,” McGeough said. “The future of our company is based on listening very closely to our customers, as well as owners of aircraft manufactured by others, and carefully designing our products to exceed their expectations. The new Beechcraft King Air 250 and Hawker 200 are examples of how we listened to our customers and are moving to the next level in the way we develop, sell and support our aircraft around the world.”
Hawker Beechcraft also continues to make significant investments in its customer support and parts infrastructure. It recently expanded its relationship with ExecuJet to provide service for all Hawker products at facilities in Dubai, UAE; Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa; Lanseria, South Africa; and Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Last year, Hawker Beechcraft also invested in critical spare parts and signed an agreement with Schenker Logistics to facilitate international parts distribution in London, Dubai and Singapore.
For more information: HawkerBeechcraft.com
