First-half worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales climbed 15.5 percent year-over-year, to $1.322 billion, according to the Aircraft Electronics Association’s (AEA) latest Avionics Market Report. Sales during the second quarter jumped 17.8 percent from a year ago, to $682.1 million.
Of this more than $1.3 billion total, 57.5 percent came from the retrofit market, thanks in part to avionics mandates such as ADS-B and FANS-1/A. Both retrofit and forward-fit avionics markets saw double-digit increases in the first six months, with retrofits rising 18.1 percent, to $760.3 million and forward-fit up 12.1 percent, to nearly $561.6 million, AEA said.
North America (U.S. and Canada) accounted for 76.8 percent of sales in the first six months, with the remainder in other international markets.
“The second-quarter report shows continued and significant increases in sales for both the retrofit and forward-fit markets during the first half,” said AEA president Paula Derks. “It is another positive indicator for the overall health of the industry. We have now seen six straight quarters of positive year-over-year sales growth dating back to the end of 2016.”
Aforementioned dollar amounts use net sales price and include all business and general aviation aircraft electronic sales, hardware (tip to tail), batteries, and chargeable product upgrades, according to AEA.