Story ID: 119
Business and General Aviation Industry Billings Soar
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: GAMA reports that the industry billings of $23.51 billion was the highest since 2015 and business jet shipments of 809 is more than seen in a decade.
Word Count: 693
Business and general aviation fixed-wing aircraft billings jumped by more than 14 percent year-over-year (YOY) in 2019 to $23.51 billion, marking the highest level since 2015, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported on February 19. Up from the $20.56 billion reported in 2018, industry billings were propelled by an overall increase in shipments to 2,658 units, and in particular, a more than 100-unit jump in business jet deliveries to 809.

The fixed-wing cumulative total is up a little more than 9 percent from the 2,432 shipped in 2018 and has reached a level not seen since 2008. In that year, the industry handed over nearly 4,000 business and general aviation airplanes.

Meanwhile, business jet shipments also are at the highest total in a decade (874 were delivered in 2009). Last year’s business jet shipment tally is up 15 percent from the 703 handed over in 2018. This comes as several business jet manufacturers enjoyed increases in 2019. Notably, Gulfstream delivered 26 more business jets YOY as it finished the fourth quarter with a book-to-bill of 1.7:1 and 1.2:1 for the whole year.

Textron saw an 18-aircraft jump in its business jet deliveries for a total of 206 on the year. This increase comes thanks, in part, to the beginning of Citation Longitude deliveries—13 were handed over in the fourth quarter. Bombardier and Embraer also saw increases on the year, and Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet deliveries continue to hum along, increasing by 18 units in 2019 to 81.

While billings surged on the jump in business jet shipments, David Paddock, GAMA chairman and Jet Aviation president, noted it was below the 2014-2015 timeframe when medium and large jets had flourished, and light jets had slumped.

Though business jet shipments surged in 2019, turboprop deliveries slowed. OEMs handed over 525 business and general aviation turboprops last year, an 11.3 percent decline from the year-earlier (the comparison does not include Viking Air, which did not report this year.) Both single- and multi-engine deliveries were down on the year in this category with Beechcraft King Airs, Cessna Caravans, Piper M-class turboprops, and Daher TBMs and Kodiaks among those seeing declines.

Meanwhile, piston aircraft deliveries were up by nearly 200 units to 1,324. This is a 16 percent increase from the 1,137 shipped in 2018. New this year is the addition of light-trainer manufacturer Sonaca, which delivered eight Sonaca 200s.

North America once again remained the top market at 66.4 percent, accounting for 1,917 of 2019 shipments.
Reasons for Optimism
GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce was encouraged by the numbers overall, saying they paint a picture of a vibrant industry. “It is great to see two of our fixed-wing sectors—piston airplane and business jet shipments—reached decade highs,” he said.

Encouraging to him was the addition of several models that have joined the GAMA report as they entered service in 2019: the Airbus ACJ319neo and ACJ320neo; Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500; Daher TBM 940; Embraer Praetor 500 and 600; Gulfstream G600; Tecnam P2012; and, Citation Longitude. “This is pretty impressive. We all know this industry is moving forward,” Bunce said, citing the strong investment the industry is making in new technology.

“Looking ahead, manufacturers are excited about the future, especially given the ongoing innovation in manufacturing that directly relates to safety and the progress being made in the development of supersonic and electrically propelled aircraft,” he added.

However, he did acknowledge “headwinds” on the rotary-wing side, where shipments fell some 16 percent to 819. Declines came with both piston and turbine helicopters. Correspondently, billings were down nearly 12 percent to $3.27 billion.

Piston deliveries plummeted from 281 last year to 179 in 2019, a 36.3 percent plunge. This differential came as Robinson Helicopter’s piston helicopter shipments dropped by 100 units to 142.

Bunce gave a caveat to the turbine results. Leonardo has not yet reported its fourth-quarter results and as a result, the GAMA year-over-year comparisons omit Leonardo's fourth-quarter results for both years. Given that, turbine helicopter shipments had dropped to 640 last year from 696 a year earlier, an 8.3 percent slide. Leonardo is expected to report in mid-March.

Airbus showed a slight decline in overall deliveries to 300 (down 23), as some of the heavier-model shipments slipped. But Bell shipments were up by eight units to 201.
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