Three key manufacturers of business aviation avionics—Collins Aerospace, Garmin International, and Honeywell—expect future demand to remain strong for their products in the Asia-Pacific region and see markets growing in many Asian countries, for varying reasons.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has affected Asia-Pacific business travel, business aviation in the region has recovered strongly, according to Hailin Wen, Asia-Pacific sales lead for Collins Aerospace’s avionics business. Although business aviation activity hasn’t quite returned to 2019 levels, Collins sees reason for optimism. “We still feel confident in the [Asia-Pacific] market because it has some of the fastest-growing economies in the world,” said Wen.
Collins sees a wide variety of potential sales opportunities for its business aviation avionics lines in the Asia-Pacific market. While it maintains a “very strong” position in line-fit installations in new aircraft (Bombardier, Gulfstream, Textron, Dassault, Embraer, Boeing, and Airbus all feature Collins avionics in their business jet lines), in the region the company’s “primary focus is on the aftermarket,” said Wen. It makes products to suit three different avionics categories: cockpit avionics, cabin management systems (CMSs), and connectivity solutions.
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 12 percent of total global demand for new business jets, according to Amit Kaul, Honeywell’s senior director of sales for commercial aviation in Asia-Pacific. “Global purchase plans for new jets are forecast to be higher in the next several years, with larger jets commanding the largest share of demand at 39 percent,” he said.
Pandemic Effect
“The need and desire for business aviation have become clearer during the pandemic,” added Kaul. “The Greater China region has always been a market we are excited about. Fleet growth in mainland China and Hong Kong should continue in the medium term, specifically in the long-range and ultra-long-range jets where Honeywell has established cutting-edge avionics. Our flight decks are available on most of these aircraft, for example, Gulfstream and Dassault.”
Honeywell also expects to see many opportunities to sell its business-aviation avionics product lines elsewhere in the region. “Southeast Asia is another market where we expect to see some growth—especially in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia,” said Kaul.
The fact that Honeywell provides the Primus Apex integrated flight decks for all new-build PC-12NG and PC-12NGX turboprops and the Primus Epic 2 integrated flight deck that forms the core of the PC-24 business jet’s Advanced Cockpit Environment will also help its business aviation avionics sales in the region. Australia presents a case in point: the country’s famous Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is an important customer for both Pilatus types.
Garmin International, meanwhile, “already has a pretty strong presence in Asia” but sees plenty of opportunity for avionics sales growth in a variety of geographical and mission-specific markets in the region, said Trevor Pegrum, Garmin’s manager for Asia-Pacific aftermarket sales.
Along with a “hub” office in Singapore, Garmin maintains offices in China, Australia, and in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. A particular strength centers on Garmin’s diverse aviation product line, ranging from “pilot watches to Part 29 integrated flight decks for IFR helicopters,” said Pegrum. “China is always the greatest market for training: Garmin has [avionics installations on] more than 1,000 training aircraft in China. India offers fantastic opportunities, particularly through flight schools and in military training.”
However, Garmin also expects to see excellent Asia-Pacific sales opportunities for avionics upgrades in business aircraft with obsolete installations. “The cost to replace them lends itself well to Garmin’s strategy,” said Pegrum. The company has developed “a federated strategy for a certain customer,” the one who operates an older aircraft—say, a Learjet 35—whose market value depends substantially on its avionics fit, he added. “We see a lot of older aircraft in that region. We have a great ADS-B solution, and cheap retrofit options [for flight management systems, TCAS II, and radar upgrades] as well.”
The fact that “almost every aircraft Textron makes today has a Garmin integrated flight deck” also has helped Garmin’s Asia-Pacific sales cause, said Pegrum. [Additionally], our G5000 [integrated flight deck] retrofit for the Citation XLS and XL has been a fantastic success, and there are a lot of opportunities in Asia for that.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia represents a “really interesting” opportunity for Garmin to market its Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS), he said. Because the island nation has seen a sizable number of aircraft accidents resulting from controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), its airworthiness authority recently issued an advisory circular recommending that Indonesian operators upgrade their fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters with terrain-awareness systems. “The TAWS systems from Garmin’s portfolio are really economical,” said Pegrum.
Aftermarket Focus
In the Asia-Pacific region, Collins’s “primary focus is on the aftermarket, in cockpit, cabin management systems, and connectivity solutions,” explained Wen. “We’re focusing on ProLine Fusion and ProLine 21 modernization upgrades,” she noted. The integrated flight decks offer retrofit features such as head-up guidance displays and enhanced-vision (EVS) and synthetic-vision (SVS) systems. Collins offers ProLine Fusion upgrades for the Challenger 604, the Citation 1+, Citation 2+, Citation 3, and King Air models. It offers ProLine 21 upgrades for the Falcon 2000, Challenger 300, Challenger 605, Hawker 800, and King Airs.
Collins sees China, India, and Australia as particularly strong markets for its business aviation avionics and cabin electronics product lines, “but we’re also seeing big growth in Southeast Asia,” said Wen. She said Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand all represent potentially strong markets for Collins’ aftermarket avionics upgrades—the latter two largely because sizable numbers of King Air 250s and 350s operate there.
In the Asia-Pacific region, “our route to market in business aviation is through our network of Collins dealers,” said Wen. The company considers this a particular strength, because the dealers sell to a wide range of customers, from private general-aviation aircraft owners to continuing airworthiness maintenance organizations, and to government agencies and “pseudo-government entities” such as Australia’s RFDS.
Honeywell sees “a keen focus on safety and productivity products” among APAC business-aviation operators, said Kaul. “We offer many in the business aviation space. Our weather radar and SVS and EVS systems significantly contribute to safer and more efficient operations. Our upgrades in our display product lines have given the opportunity for older jets in the region to reach a level playing field where they can use products like synthetic vision and enhanced vision. Additionally, built-in automation helps keep flights safe during weather-related turbulence while reducing pilot overload.”
New equipage opportunities in business aviation avionics will also emerge in the Asia-Pacific region—and in other regions—in years to come, according to Kaul. “With Honeywell’s success in being the first to provide ADS-B Out upgrade solutions globally, we are looking to further support the retrofit market with ADS-B In. We are looking forward to it being mandated in the next eight to nine years,” he said.
Some forthcoming equipage mandates will be important for future Asia-Pacific sales (particularly China’s forthcoming ADS-B Out mandate), but regional regulations don’t generally drive the business aviation avionics upgrade market there, according to Wen. Rather, pandemic-related movement by wealthy individuals “to put their families on owned aircraft instead of on chartered aircraft,” has propelled sales. As a result, “many high-net-worth individuals have refocused their business-aviation priorities on safety,” she concluded.