Total GA airplane billings in the first half of the year reached $10.4 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released last month by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). The tally marks the first time since 2008 that the industry revenue has exceeded $10 billion in the first half of the year. Overall, GA airplane shipments rose nearly 9 percent over the previous year, but despite the increase, the total number of business jet deliveries decreased by more than 4 percent over the first half of 2012, with 283 handed over compared with 295 in the same period last year.
Cessna saw deliveries slip by more than 40 percent year-over-year. The Textron subsidiary handed over fewer than half the number of Citation Mustangs and CJ3s as it did in the first six months of last year, and nine fewer CJ4s. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Textron president, CEO and chairman Scott Donnelly addressed the continued soft market. “As we expected, reduced discounting to entice customers into the market did result in lower sales volume, as we delivered 20 jets compared with 49 a year ago. However, we achieved positive new jet pricing on both a sequential and year-over-year basis, which was our intent.” According to Donnelly, the OEM is also experiencing some teething pains with the integration of new Garmin cockpits in the M2, Citation X and Sovereign, pushing deliveries of those aircraft into the latter part of the year or early next year. As a result of those lower delivery totals, Cessna’s second-quarter revenues were down $203 million year-over-year.
