Wichita ? Hawker Beechcraft says it plans to hire more than 100 engineers by year’s end.

The Wichita Eagle reported that the airplane maker also plans to hire 40 to 50 people in its supply chain and operations areas in the next 90 to 120 days.

Hawker Beechcraft’s vice president for human resources, Rich Jiwanlal, says the company is hiring because it is designing new products, upgrading existing ones and exploring new markets for its commercial and military products.

He called the hiring “very exciting.” It comes after Wichita lost thousands of aviation jobs in the recession.