Light Aircraft R&M Market Healthy, but Mercurial

Forecast International estimates that nearly $1.7 billion will be spent on upgrades for fixed-wing aircraft weighing less than 70,000 pounds during the 2009-2018 period. The report of a study conducted by the company, titled “The Market for Light Aircraft Retrofit and Modernization,” noted that a spike in the avionics business as a result of FAA mandates has cooled somewhat but engine upgrades are on the upswing. Adam Feld, aerospace defense retrofit and modernization analyst for the Newtown, Conn.-based company, told AIN, “Over the last year we’ve seen an increase in the number of avionics systems that have been developed such as enhanced vision systems. Most of them had been under development for quite a while and finally made it into the market. What we’re now seeing is an uptick in older engine conversions and structural improvements such as the Beechcraft 400Next done by Nextant Aerospace.”