Planemaker Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) has said that the company's debt crisis will not impact its business in India. US-based HBC manufactures King Air turbo prop planes and Hawker jets and has 58% share of business aircraft registered in India.
According to recent media reports from the United States the plane manufacturer has hired law firms which specialise in bankruptcy and restructuring as slower growth has impacted its earnings.
Shawn W Vick, CEO of Hawker Beechcraft International Service Company ruled out any fallout of the debt crisis on customers.
"There will be no impact in India. There will be no impact to our customers," he stated.
He confirmed that the company had hired two law firms to advise them on financial restructuring but refused comment about filing of bankruptcy.
Vick said the company was concluding fresh debt terms with its lenders and announcement is expected this week.
The company has a total debt of about $2 billion. Hawker is owned by investment firms Goldman Sachs and Onex.
Currently there are about 150-160 Hawker Beechcraft-built planes flying in India which include 28 jet planes and turbo prop King Airs' making up the rest. The plane maker competes with plane makers Pilatus in turbo prop market and with Bombardier and Cessna in mid size jet market in India.
Vick said he is confident of increasing the business from India. Over the last five years the company sold 40-50 planes in India and it hopes to keep up the momentum. Vick however refused to share specific figures of order back log and targets.
"I see continuing strong growth in King Air product line largely because of entry level jets offered by a other manufactuer do not have pay load or performance capabilities and people are buying those airplanes and finding out that they can not carry their passengers over long distance. They are coming back to us and buying KingAir," he said.
"2010 and 2011 were not as good as the previous years but we are optimistic about the future," Daniel Keady, company's vice president sales (Asia Pacific-India) said.
"We had two order cancellations from India last year but we recovered one of those. As the market recovers we will see the customer coming back,'' he added.
"The company is not going bust. That is misinformation and is profferred by competitors," Vick said.
"We have no intention at this point in time to do anything other than to build and service the planes. I am very enthusiastic about our future. We have excellent products and we have got 37,000 customers around the globe. We have invested heavily during downturn in creating capabilities in the business. We have taken market share globally and we are addressing the debt that was placed on this business when there was a very different market place. Tens and thousands of companies around the world have addressed their balance sheets and its just our turn now," he told Business Standard.
