Last year, things were bad for the completion and refurbishment industry as companies were feeling the effects of the economic recession. Even so, there was an attempt by many to put a positive face on the future. With the perspective now of 20/20 hindsight, a more accurate forecast would have been, “things are never so bad that they can’t get worse.”
It all begins with new aircraft sales, and according to numbers released since the first of the year, such sales did indeed get worse last year. Despite a positive spin by former General Aviation Manufacturers Association chairman Bill Boisture that “this may not be the deepest trough in modern times,” the fact remains that billings dropped to $11.9 billion in 2002 from $13.9 billion in 2001. There was a similar drop in total aircraft deliveries–2,439 in 2002 versus 2,994 in 2001. And according to AIN’s own tracking for turbine business aircraft deliveries, there were only 872 shipments in 2002, a considerable drop from 1,119 in 2001.
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