Record ’07 to Herald Extended Bizjet Boom

Honeywell Aerospace expects the world’s business jet manufacturers to set a new delivery record next year and establish a strong precedent for a 10-year forecast period in which the industry will ship more than 12,000 airplanes worth $195 billion. Carrying backlogs approaching 2,500 airplanes, the industry hasn’t seen much better times in its history, as so far this year business aircraft manufacturers delivered 26 percent more airplanes than they did during the same period last year. Honeywell forecasts deliveries this year of some 850 new business jets, compared with 737 last year (not including nine ACJs and four BBJs). The 15th annual forecast projects next year’s deliveries will top 1,000 for the first time. Honeywell bases its predictions on a survey of global purchase expectations, which showed an improvement in North America this year after a noticeable drop last year. Overall, respondents to this year’s survey said they expect to replace or expand the equivalent of about 26 percent of their fleets over the next five years, up from about 23 percent in last year’s survey.