Aircraft Avionics Convention Opens in Orlando

The Aircraft Electronics Association expects more than 2,000 representatives from avionics manufacturers, repair stations, installers and other general aviation companies at its 59th AEA International Convention & Trade Show, which opened yesterday

at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center near Orlando, Fla. More than 130 companies are exhibiting at the show, which focuses on serving AEA’s primarily avionics dealer and repair station membership. Yesterday, 30 companies delivered presentations at the new product introduction session.

AEA also released the latest figures from its Avionics Market Report, which reflects sales by 21 AEA member companies. First-quarter 2016 total sales exceeded $566 million, a 3.6 percent drop from the first quarter of 2015. For those periods, retrofit sales dropped 7.5 percent, while forward-fit sales (installations in new aircraft) deflated  0.1 percent, accounting for 54.7 percent of the business. Of the total sales volume, 64.9 percent were attributable to the U.S. and Canada, while 35.1 percent were in the rest of the world. 

According to the AEA, “The dollar amount reported (using net sales price, not manufacturer's suggested retail price) includes: all business and general aviation aircraft electronic sales—including all component and accessories in cockpit/cabin/software upgrades/portables/certified and noncertified aircraft electronics; all hardware (tip to tail); batteries; and chargeable product upgrades from the participating manufacturers. The amount does not include repairs and overhauls, extended warranty or subscription services.”

“It's disappointing that total worldwide sales are off to a slower start compared to the first three months a year ago,” said AEA president Paula Derks. “Sales in the forward-fit market were nearly identical to last year, so the overall decline was mostly felt in the retrofit market. With more than 30 new avionics products and services introduced to the market this week at the AEA Convention, industry will hopefully see improved sales figures later this year.”

At the opening ceremony, AEA announced winners of its annual awards. Jeanne Rau-Flattery, majority owner and CEO of of Millennium International, was named 2016 AEA Member of the Year; Gogo Business Aviation was named AEA Associate Member of the Year; this year’s recipient of the AEA Lifetime Achievement Award was aviator, businessman, art collector and civic leader Robert Duncan, chairman emeritus of Duncan Aviation.

Derks welcomed the avionics manufacturer and dealer members and highlighted the issues that will likely gain attention at this year’s convention. “There are some hard-hitting regulatory issues we’re going to talk about this week,” she said. “The pending release of the Part 23 rewrite, the Senate’s passage just last week for funding the FAA with no call for user fees and a call for certification reform, not to mention we’ll also be discussing the announcement a couple of weeks ago of unique ways to install non-certified equipment in certified aircraft.”

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta summarized his agency’s work with the aviation industry on certification during the keynote speech on the first day of the convention. “We’re also looking to be more flexible in our rules by reviewing small airplane certification standards,” he said. “And based on months of collaboration with manufacturers and others in the industry, we released our proposed rule to rewrite Part 23 in March. And it is our goal to finalize that rule if we can by the end of this year. Now instead of requiring certain design elements on specific technologies, the new Part 23 rule will enable manufacturers to develop aircraft and safety technologies according to performance-based standards that maintain the same level of safety. This approach recognizes there’s more than one way to work on safety, and it provides room for flexibility and innovation in the marketplace. I expect that this will reduce the time it takes to get safety-enhancing technologies for small airplanes into the marketplace while also reducing their cost.”

Huerta pointed to the large drop in fatal accidents in the commercial airline industry, explaining that much of this improvement was due to “designing aircraft stronger but smarter. We want to achieve the same results in the general aviation segment. The changes we’re seeing are awe-inspiring. At FAA, we’re committed to supporting you.”