Annual GA Shipments Down

Feb 17, 2009
Jim Swickard



The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced today that 2008 year-end worldwide shipments of general aviation airplanes decreased for the first time in five years.

At GAMA's Annual Industry Review and Market Outlook Briefing, GAMA Chairman, Mark Van Tine, president and CEO of Jeppesen, reported that despite an up year for revenue due to order backlogs, the industry is feeling a significant impact from the slowing worldwide economy.

Billings reached $24.8 billion, a 13.4 percent increase over 2007. The positive billings numbers reflect the fulfillment of orders placed for turboprops and business jets during the strong economic years of 2006 and 2007. But aircraft shipments declined with 2008 year-end, worldwide shipments of general aviation airplanes, down 7.1percent with a total of 3,969 units, versus 2007's total of 4,272 airplanes.

The piston airplane segment was down 20.8 percent in 2008, with 2,119 units delivered compared to 2,675 airplanes in 2007. The turboprop segment experienced the strongest growth in 2008 with shipments up nearly 17 percent. 535 turboprops were shipped, up from 459 units in 2007. Business jet shipments reached a new plateau in 2008 with a total of 1,315 airplanes, up 15.6 percent over the previous year's figure of 1,138 airplanes.

Photo credit: Cessna