GA Deliveries Point to Recovery

General aviation aircraft manufacturers have reported a 26% increase in revenue for the first half over 2013 over 2012, encouraging the industry as it aims at economic recovery.

For the first time since before the 2008 global financial crisis devastated the industry, aircraft revenues have exceeded $US10 billion in the first half of a calendar year.

"We are encouraged to see a strong increase in billings this quarter," said General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA)  President and CEO Pete Bunce, "but the mixed results in shipments and the differences in performance among sectors demonstrate that GA airplane manufacturers still face some strong headwinds as the global economy recovers."

A total of 1014 aircraft deliveries were reported for January-June 2013, an 8.9% rise over the 931 shipments for the first half of 2012. Turbo-props continued their upward trend in demand with single-engine shipments up 3.8% and twin-engine shipments up a whopping 70.6%.

However, business jet deliveries declined by 4.1% from 295 in 2012 to 283 in 2013.

One signifcant result was the 12 deliveries of the DAHER-SOCATA TBM850, which out-sold all other single-engine turbo-props except the Cessna Caravan, which it doesn't complete with for the same market.

Also, Embraer's Phenom 100 personal jet (11) had a win over the Cessna Citation Mustang (5).

Piper's PA28 Archer is also back on the scoreboard, thanks to a significant order from ATP Flight School in the USA.

Full half-year 2013 deliveries

Significant Delivery Results for Q2 2013 (Q1 2013)

Cessna C172SP 31 (16)

Cessna C172R 0 (0)

Cessna T206H 12 (3)

Cirrus SR22 and SR22T 65 (40)

Cirrus SR20 14 (11)

GippsAero GA8 Airvan 3 (5)

Pilatus PC12 11 (7)

Piper Meridian 8 (5)

DAHER-Socata TBM850 12 (5)

Quest Kodiak 100 7 (2)

Piper Archer 23 (0)