(Photo credit: Cessna Aircraft Company)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The parent company of Cessna Aircraft says it has reached an agreement to buy Beechcraft Corporation for approximately $1.4 billion. The purchase was announced Thursday night by Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron Incorporated and would bring two mainstays of Wichita's general aviation industry under a single corporate leadership. Textron chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly said in a statement that the Beechcraft acquisition is a "tremendous opportunity" for the diversified corporation to expand its general aviation business. Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture had said in recent months he expected the company would sell at least its idled business jet assets by the end of 2013. Donnelly said Beechcraft's King Air line of aircraft complements Cessna's Caravan and Citation jet lineup.