U.S. business aircraft builder Hawker Beechcraft expects to emerge from its Chapter 11 protection from creditors by year-end and will be a much stronger company than it is now, a senior company official said Sunday.

Speaking to journalists at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition, Shawn Vick, executive vice president-customers said that in the meantime it's business as usual. "We will continue to build, sell and deliver aircraft," he said.

He said the company will see its US$125 million debt services removed by the agreement with its financial investors to holders of its US$2.5 billion of debt to exchange their debt for equity.

At the emergence from Chapter 11, he said, Hawker Beechcraft may take on a small amount of debt.

Hawker Beechcraft is rebuilding its business relationships with its suppliers, he said. In the months prior to the company filing for Chapter 11 protection on May 3, he said, "many vendors and suppliers began to conservatively manage their business relationship with us. That's a natural process."

Media reports have said some of the company's suppliers, worried about being paid, have been reluctant to ship parts, leading to production slowdowns.

Private equity firm Onyx and Goldman Sachs organized the leveraged buyout of Hawker Beechcraft in 2007, and will have very small equity stakes in Hawker Beechceraft once the Chapter 11 process is completed.