A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

In its first-quarter earnings call this morning Hawker Beechcraft announced it has increased its backlog over the previous quarter by $122 million, to $1.5 billion (marking the first time the company has posted a quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2008), with new orders of $714 million exceeding its cancellations of $33 million. While the Wichita-based airframer increased its first-quarter business and general aviation deliveries to 45 from 34 year over year, revenue in the segment decreased, because King Airs accounted for more than half of the aircraft delivered. “The business and general aviation segment is in fact depressed by the uncertainty and the lack of confidence that people feel about the global economy,” said Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO Bill Boisture. “Our decrease in revenue in this segment is primarily a change in the mix of aircraft sold. We sold more of the lower-price products in the first quarter.” Overall, the business and general aviation segment reported sales of $286.2 million in the first quarter of 2011, a $48.9 million decrease from the $335 million posted a year ago. Yet, according to Boisture, the cyclical increase in backlog and deliveries is encouraging. “We’re beginning to see stabilization in some of the key market indicators and I would say we’re cautiously optimistic that a market recovery for us and our industry will begin in 2012.”

HBC: Backlog and Deliveries Up, but GA Revenues Down

In its first-quarter earnings call this morning Hawker Beechcraft announced it has increased its backlog over the previous quarter by $122 million, to $1.5

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