Airlines
737 Max Grounding Helps Fuel Collins Aerospace Aftermarket Sales Growth
Providing parts and repairs to operators keeping older aircraft in service longer is boosting Collins Aerospace’s aftermarket business.
Kelly Ortberg, CEO Collins Aerospace.
Kelly Ortberg, CEO Collins Aerospace.

Strong sales growth in Collins Aerospace’s commercial-aviation aftermarket business will persist in the short term as a result of both the worldwide Boeing 737 grounding and the U.S. and European ADS-B equipage mandate, according to CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Collins Aerospace celebrated the first anniversary of its formation—through the merger of UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins—on November 26. Its commercial-aviation aftermarket business achieved sales growth of 17 percent in this year’s third quarter. The strong growth was fueled, in large part, by deliveries of ADS-B equipment from the company’s avionics business units to U.S. operators needing to outfit their airliners in time to meet the FAA's January 1, 2020 deadline; and to European operators needing to meet the European Union’s June 7 deadline, said Ortberg.