When Raytheon recently announced the sale of its aircraft business unit - manufacturer of Hawker and Beechcraft planes - it also made it clear that its fractional ownership business Flight Options, LLC was not part of the sale.

While discussing Flight Options in a subsequent conference call, Raytheon Chief Financial Officer David Wajsgras said "The business is on track. Its operating performance and customer satisfaction statistics are either meeting expectations or beyond expectations.

Wajsgras continued to say that Raytheon has struck a three-year agreement with the buyers of its aircraft unit to continue conducting business with Flight Options as it is done now. This suggests that Flight Options will continue to have Hawker and Beechjet planes as key parts of its fractional fleet.

In November 2006 Raytheon gained FAA certification for its new super mid range Hawker 4000 jet. The new buyers of Raytheon Aircraft apparently hired test pilots to put the plane through its paces prior to the acquisition, so maybe we'll see this plane enter the fractional fleets in the near future.

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