1H17 Bizjet Shipments Rise, Turboprops Cool Down

Business and general aviation manufacturers reported another quarter of mixed results, with the total number of piston, turboprop and business jet deliveries in the second quarter this year edging up 2.6 percent; billings suffered a 1.2-percent decline, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

GAMA released the second quarter shipment results last month, reporting delivery of 561 airplanesin the three months ended June 30, compared with 547 in the same period last year. Billings for airplanes in this year's second quarter inched down to $5.311 billion from $5.376 billion a year earlier.

The declinee in billings comes as business jet shipments fell by five, or roughly 3 percent, to 165 aircraft in the second quarter. The mix of those deliveries helped erode billings, with deliveries by large-cabin and ultra-long-range aircraft manufacturers Bombardier and Gulfstream down by a combined 10 aircraft and billings combining for a drop that exceeded $300 million in the second quarter. These declines were offset by slight upticks at HondaJet (by two aircraft) and Cessna Citation (by one), as well as by Embraer billings. Embraer delivered two fewer aircraft in the second quarter, but more Legacy shipments helped buoy billings by nearly $53 million to $281 million.

Neither Boeing nor Airbus delivered corporate versions of their aircraft in the second quarter.

“Results for the second quarter of this year are very much like the first: mixed, with some bright spots,” noted GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. For the first half, total deliveries similarly were up 2.7 percent to 995 airplanes, while billings softened 3.4 percent to $9 billion.

Despite the second-quarter results, business jet shipments were up slightly by 1 percent to 295. First-half business jet results were also buoyed by Dassault, which delivered two more aircraft this year and took in almost $130 million in billings (Dassault does not report quarterly).

Boeing delivered three BBJ variants in the first half, up from one in last year's first half. Billings of those aircraft, however, aren’t factored into the GAMA totals for the first half.

Turboprop Segment

After a rough first quarter, deliveries of pressurized turboprops swelled 7.8 percent in the second quarter to 69. This improvement came despite a 17.4-percent drop in Beechcraft King Air deliveries and a 13.6-percent slide in Pilatus PC-12 deliveries. There were four fewer King Air deliveries and three fewer PC-12 deliveries in the second quarter. Pressurized turboprop deliveries, however, were bolstered by TBM’s 900 (910)/930 series, which combined for 16 deliveries (up three or 23.1 percent) and the introduction of the M600, which, combined with the M500, marked a 150-percent leap in deliveries to 15 for Piper. As in the second quarter of last year, Piaggio reported no Avanti Evo deliveries.

However, deliveries of pressurized turboprops fell 9.6 percent year-over-year in the first half, to 104 aircraft. Notably, King Air deliveries plummeted 58.1 percent in the first six months, to 31 aircraft, while Pilatus PC-12 shipments sunk 22.5 percent, to 31 aircraft. However, pressurized turboprop deliveries at Piper jumpeded 87 percent in the first half as it ramped up production of the M600. Shipments at Daher also climbed 27.8 percent in the same period, to 23 TBM 910s and 930s.

Including non-pressurized aircraft, turboprop deliveries overall were down 0.9 percent to 232. In the first-half results, piston aircraft deliveries led the climb in total deliveries, up 5.6 percent.

“We hope rule rewrites in the U.S. and Europe, reorganization of the FAA certification directorate, and 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,” Bunce added.