Great Lakes Aviation appears to have escaped a brush with certain bankruptcy thanks to a recently signed agreement with Raytheon Aircraft that gives the Wichita-based manufacturer a 36-percent stake in the long-foundering airline. New Great Lakes CEO Chuck Howell–added to the company’s management team on August 11 at the behest of Raytheon–now oversees an enterprise beset by near constant adversity over the past two years but seemingly rejuvenated by an unlikely benefactor.
That’s not to say that Raytheon’s investment in a company whose poor market performance prompted its ejection from the Nasdaq SmallCap Index constitutes anything more than an act of self-preservation. A growing inventory of idle Beech 1900s has sent the value of the 19-seat turboprops to historic lows; Raytheon would almost certainly have more to lose by repossessing its airplanes, thus adding to the already saturated supply of used Beech 1900s and further degrading the value of the aircraft.
