Deliveries of Textron Aviation business aircraft remained stable during the first quarter of 2023 with a slight uptick in commercial turboprops (34 versus 31 in the same period last year) compensating for a drop from 39 to 35 jets. In an earnings call with analysts on Thursday, the parent company Textron reported that revenues at its Textron Aviation segment grew by 10.5 percent during the first three months of this year to $1.1 billion, contributing to the $3 billion in corporate-wide revenues that were unchanged over 2022.
Textron Aviation contributed $125 million to the $259 million in corporate-wide profits, achieving an increase of $15 million. The company said this improvement was largely due to favorable pricing levels for its aircraft and higher volumes. The division’s order backlog at the end of the first quarter was valued at $6.5 billion.
By contrast, Textron’s rotorcraft division Bell saw revenues decline by 25 percent to reach $621 million, due to lower military revenues. But those revenues are expected to recover in the wake of the Government Accountability Office’s ruling earlier this month that rejected protests by competitors Sikorsky and Boeing against the U.S. Army’s award of the Future Long-range Assault Aircraft contract to Bell. During the first quarter, Bell delivered 22 commercial helicopters, down from 25 units in the first quarter of 2022. Its segment profit fell by $31 million to $60 million and the order backlog stood at $4.6 billion.
Textron's eAviation business unit achieved revenues of $4 million, mainly from sales of trainer aircraft produced by its Europe-based subsidiary Pipistrel, which now has distribution partners in the U.S. Textron chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly said the company anticipates rising demand for the company's Alpha, Velis Electro, and Panthera aircraft.
In response to continuing supply-chain issues that Donnelly said are “not getting worse or better,” Textron added more employees in the fourth quarter of 2022 so that, “now we’re largely staffed at levels where we want to be so that things improve.” He acknowledged that some business jet delivery dates were missed during the quarter due to supply-chain issues that held up parts.
Asked by analysts whether rising pre-owned aircraft inventories might impact demand for new equipment, Donnelly said that only a very small percentage of the 7,000 Textron aircraft in service today are on the market. These aircraft were mainly at least 25 years old. “We’ve seen no change in customer behavior,” he commented. “We’re happy with how new orders are going for both jets and turboprops.”