The Aircraft Electronics Association has released its first-quarter 2017 Avionics Market Report, which shows that in the first three months of the year, total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales amounted to more than $566 million.
The figure represented a 0.01% increase in sales compared to the first quarter of 2016, according to AEA officials.
Although the sales amount was nearly identical to the first three months of 2016, it marked the first time since the fourth quarter of 2015 that sales increased during the same period from the previous year, snapping a string of seven consecutive quarterly reports showing a decrease in sales from the previous year, AEA officials noted.
The dollar amount reported (using net sales price, not manufacturer’s suggested retail price) includes: All business and general aviation aircraft electronic sales, including all component and accessories in cockpit/cabin/software upgrades/portables/certified and noncertified aircraft electronics; all hardware (tip to tail); batteries; and chargeable product upgrades from the participating manufacturers. The amount does not include repairs and overhauls, extended warranty or subscription services.
Of the more than $566 million in first-quarter 2017 sales, 57% came from the retrofit market (avionics equipment installed after original production), while forward-fit sales (avionics equipment installed by airframe manufacturers during original production) amounted to 43% of first-quarter sales.
According to the companies that separated their total sales figures between North America (U.S. and Canada) and other international markets, 69.3% of the first-quarter sales volume occurred in North America (U.S. and Canada), while 30.7% took place in other international markets.
“This quarter offers mixed reviews, as industry saw a substantial decrease in forward-fit sales offset by a larger increase in retrofit sales,” said AEA President Paula Derks. “We have seen an increase in the percentage of sales coming from the retrofit market for four straight years, but this quarter marks the biggest swing toward that industry segment. Although the final sales amount was nearly identical to the first three months of 2016, it indeed showed a slight increase for the first time in several reporting cycles, which ends a downward trend during the last couple of years.”
Below is a review of the year-end totals for the five-year history of the AEA Avionics Market Report. Participating companies began separating total sales into retrofit/forward-fit sales in 2013.
To ensure confidentiality, participating manufacturing companies submit their sales figures to an independent third-party firm retained to produce the AEA Avionics Market Report. The companies currently participating in the report include:
- ACR Artex
- ALTO Aviation
- Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp.
- Appareo
- Aspen Avionics
- BendixKing
- Blue Avionics
- FreeFlight Systems
- Garmin
- Genesys Aerosystems
- Gogo Business Aviation
- Honeywell Business & General Aviation
- Jupiter Avionics
- Latitude Technologies
- L3 Aviation Products
- Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics
- PS Engineering
- Rockwell Collins
- Sandia Aerospace
- Shadin Avionics
- Trig Avionics
- Universal Avionics Systems Corp.
The number of companies that participate in the AEA Avionics Market Report may change on a quarterly and/or annual basis. This may occur due to mergers and acquisitions during the year along with new companies participating in the reporting process. Any comparative analysis of the data should take this variance into consideration, AEA officials note.