Cessna Citation Longitude. Photo courtesy of Textron Aviation
General aviation airplane shipments reached a total of $9 billion during the first six months of 2017, according to a new report published by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). OEMs delivered a total of 995 business jets, piston aircraft and turboprops between January and June, the report says.
While the total shipments for the first half of the year showed a 2.7% increase compared to the same period in 2016, the $9 billion total was a 3.4% reduction. GAMA did not include rotorcraft shipments in the report, which will be published separately, according to the organization.
Total business jet shipments increased by three units to 295 deliveries over the first six months of the year. The turboprop segment was down 0.9%, or two units, in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same time period last year, the report says.
GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce called the results “mixed with some bright spots.”
“We hope rule rewrites in the U.S. and Europe, reorganization of the FAA certification directorate and ongoing certification and regulatory reform efforts in Congress, including fuller utilization of the delegation authorization, will spur higher numbers in future quarters this year and the next,” said Bunce.
Among individual OEMs, Textron Aviation reported the highest number of total shipments, moving a total of 142 Beechcraft and Cessna aircraft during the second quarter of 2017. Textron shipped a total of 31 Cessna 172 Skyhawks during the quarter.
Textron CEO Scott Donnelly recently discussed what type of regional demand trends the company is seeing for business jets during its second quarter earnings call.
“I think on the business jet side, it’s still a very North American-centric market. It’s really — I haven’t seen any particular dynamics changing over the course of the year and that’s how we would envision it playing out for the balance of 2017. So, it’s still very North American-driven,” said Donnelly.
Elsewhere, Gulfstream reported a total of 30 shipments, compared to 24 for Embraer and 17 for Dassault Aviation. Bombardier shipped 36 total business jets during the quarter, including 15 Global 5000/6000s.
GAMA’s report comes following the recent publishing of Aircraft Electronics Association’s (AEA) business and general aviation second quarter 2017 aftermarket avionics sales report, which showed a 5.4% year-over-year increase.