A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Worldwide deliveries of business jets declined by more than a third between 2008 and 2009, according to statistics released today by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. After 2008’s peak of 1,313 business jets delivered, the number shrank to 870 last year, the industry’s lowest tally since 2005. Among the bright spots was Embraer, which saw shipments climb by more than 220 percent. The 97 Phenom 100s it handed over to customers partially offset the absence of Eclipse deliveries (161 EA500s in 2008 before the company folded) on the list. Dassault also reported a modest 6.9-percent increase in deliveries, but all the major North American jet manufacturers posted at least a 30-percent delivery drop-off. In the turboprop segment, the decline was not as drastic, with a total of 441 aircraft delivered, down from 535 in 2008. Overall, industry billings saw a more than 21-percent decline from 2008’s high of $24.8 billion to $19.46 billion. “The worldwide economic crisis, which included major constraints on credit, cutbacks in flying hours and downsizing and divestiture of business jet fleets, forced manufacturers to take difficult steps in 2009,” said Rob Wilson, GAMA chairman and president of Honeywell Business and General Aviation. “General Aviation manufacturers had no choice but to cut production and announce painful layoffs and furloughs.”

GAMA Stats Quantify Bizav Industry Downturn in 2009

Worldwide deliveries of business jets declined by more than a third between 2008 and 2009, according to statistics released today by the General Aviation M

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