WASHINGTON, D.C. — Total worldwide general aviation airplane shipments rose 6.6% over the same period last year, from 1,419 to 1,513 shipments, according to figures just released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.
Billings for GA airplanes worldwide in the first nine months reached $15.4 billion, up 24.5% from the same period last year, when they totaled $12.4 billion.
Single and multi-engine turboprop shipments continued their positive trajectory, increasing 9.3% and 42.4%. Piston engine airplanes increased 7.9% to 667 compared to 618 in 2012. However, business jet shipments were down from 430 in the first nine months of 2012 to 421 in 2013.
“The strong level of energy and positive mood of customers at the National Business Aviation Association’s convention this month reflects the industry’s continued recovery from the recession and gives GAMA members good reason to feel optimistic about the future,” GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce said. “While our members enjoyed another strong quarter of billings, not all of the news is good; the industry still faces significant challenges, particularly in the small and mid-size jet markets.”
“As GAMA works with policymakers around the globe to facilitate increases in the deliveries of general aviation manufacturing products, we are encouraged by the progress of initiatives such as the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, which will increase safety while reducing cost for both industry and government,” he continued. “In addition, GAMA continues to work with the FAA to quickly clear the backlog of deliveries that developed over the 16-day government shutdown and mitigate any adverse impact upon our critical fourth quarter numbers.”
The careful wording of the GAMA report is “shipments and billings”. Shipments do not necessarily mean “revenue” and GAMA reports the jsut first stage of the revenue billing process via their quarterly shipments and billing reports. Important, and often absent, metrics to the health of the general aviation business are statistics on the length of time which an aircraft remains in dealer inventory before being sold to an end user, and the net profit realized after the cost of the sale from an airplane entering dealer inventory to the time of sale. Most aircraft dealers also have signed contracts which require scheduled deliveries of new inventory regardless if existing inventory has sold. Ultimately, GAMA provides a set of numbers which are just points of data to develop a view towards a bigger picture. From the narrow view of a positive percentage of increase, GAMA can only be optimistic because this is what they see. Regardless of the delivery numbers, single piston engine aircraft sales and profit are mediocre.
Polly Anna is alive and well at GAMA. I have doubts about the numbers here for piston aircraft, unless GAMA is now counting LSA class aircraft, which in the past they have ignored. These numbers appear to reflect all global sales, not the US. Bunce put the recession in past tense, which, for anyone living outside the DC Beltway, is laughable. Why not survey airport managers at rural GA airfields and ask them about flying activity, if any still exists. Ask them for trends in Avgas sales. GAMA should change its name to Business Aircraft Manufacturers Association ( BAMA, War Eagle! ) as it does not reflect the sort of aircraft being built for recreational pilots, which are primarily homebuilts, LSAs or larger piston aircraft from Europe.