Just weeks after warning that pending job cuts “could very well touch all areas and levels of the company,” Hawker Beechcraft CEO Jim Schuster today put a number to how many of his 9,300 employees will be let go–about 2,300, or nearly 25 percent of the company’s workforce. Most of the affected employees will be given their 60-day notices on Friday, just 91 days since 490 people were let go by Hawker Beechcraft. “In the short time since my last communication, we have experienced increased erosion across our industry and the global economy,” he wrote to employees today. “In addition to declining orders and deliveries, we are facing a host of new challenges,” including a continued tough credit market, slowed orders from high-volume customers such as fractional providers, and media and political criticism of business jets. “The increased challenges that lay before us demand an extraordinary response from our company and the U.S. aviation industry to ensure our short-term stability and long-term success,” Schuster added. “This is an extremely painful step for the HBC family and community, but one that is absolutely necessary. While I wish I could commit to you that this will be our final action, I cannot do so at this time given the extreme volatility in the marketplace.”