Worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales topped $2.8 billion last year, marking a 21.5 percent increase from 2021 and the largest year-over-year jump since the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) began reporting those results 11 years ago.
The organization yesterday released the 2022 AEA Avionics Market Report, noting the fourth quarter led the increases with $794 million in total sales (both retrofit and forward-fit), up 31.2 percent from a year earlier. Further, sales in the final three months of 2022 were up 7.2 percent quarter-over-quarter, continuing a string of 10 consecutive quarterly increases.
For the year, the breakdown between retrofit and forward-fit was fairly even at 48.2 percent and 51.8 percent, respectively. Throughout the year, forward-fit accounted for between 52.7 percent and 55.8 percent in the first nine months, but just 44.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
North America remained the dominant market, accounting for 74.9 percent of avionics sales last year. While 2022 marked the largest year-over-year increase in AEA’s tracking history, it was still slightly below the record of $3 billion in 2019.
“We have seen yearly sales rebound in the last two years despite supply-chain constraints and a tight labor market,” said AEA president and CEO Mike Adamson. “While it’s encouraging to see a record-breaking percentage increase in year-over-year avionics sales, the industry is still rebounding from the economic impact of the pandemic.”