Piper and Cessna fight out Market Leadership

US manufacturers Piper and Cessna fought a tight battle for leadership in the single-engined trainer market in 2025, with the C172SP and PA28 eventually separated by just three airframes.

Whilst the Cherokee trailed the Skyhawk for most of the year, a robust Q4 brought it to within a whisker of snatching the top rung of the delivery ladder, leaving the Cessna to claim sector leadership back after lowering its colours in 2024. The final result was 191 for the Skyhawk and 188 for the Cherokee.

A resurgence in demand for the Cirrus SR20 solidified its third place with 152 airframes, the model's best result since it entered the market in 1999.

Overall, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported a slight increase in piston-engine sales in 2025, accompanied by a 5.1% drop in demand for turbo-props, prompting GAMA CEO and president James Viola to declare the market steady.

"The state of the general aviation manufacturing industry remains steadfast," Viola said. "We continue to see robust numbers of total aircraft delivered as well as annual billings eclipsing $[US]35 billion, the highest it has ever been.

"While some segments are seeing marginal declines in deliveries, they are all still above 2019 levels.

"As manufacturers work hard to meet the challenges and demand of today, they remain focused on advancing safety and innovation for the future of the entire aviation industry.”

Cirrus returned annual shipment figures for the SR22/T of 490 aircraft, the third-best result ever, eclipsed only by the 497 of 2023 and 503 of 2024. Although second in the high-speed single market, Cessna's Skylane was furlongs behind the Cirrus with 77 shipments for the year.

Diamond's DA62 twin stormed into market leadership in the light-twin sector in 2023, and held it again in 2025 with 70 shipments, out-selling its sister aeroplane, the DA42 by 19 airframes. Tecnam rolled out 30 P2006Ts and Piper 27 Seminoles, but neither model presented a significant challenge to the dominance of the Diamonds.

In the flat turbo-prop sector, the Cessna C208 range out-sold the Pilatus PC-12 for the first time since the two broke even in 2019. The Grand Caravan's 86 shipments was the best result since 2018, stealing the lead from the PC-12 by four aircraft. Demand for the Piper M-series turbine remained steady on 61 for the year, and Daher rolled out 51 TBMs, a small decrease of five over 2024.

Despite recording 86 airframes shipped in 2025, the best figures since 2014, the Embraer Phenom range could only manage second place in the single-pilot jet market, with the Cirrus SF50 Vision, the only single-engined jet in the segment, recording 106 shipments. Pilatus' PC-24 (50), the Cessna M2 (22) and the HondaJet (12) did not experience significant changes in demand over 2024.

Locally, neither GippsAero nor NZAero reported any shipments of the GA8 Airvan or 750XL respectively to GAMA. GippsAero has been refurbishing existing airframes, but expects to deliver the first new-build sometime this year. NZAero/PAC has not reported delivering a 750XL since 2023.

Textron Aviation delivered six G36 Bonanzas and five G58 Barons for the year ahead of announcing in November that both models would be deleted from the range.

Major Aircraft Shipments 2025 Calendar Year

Major Aircraft Shipments Q4 2025

-Steve Hitchen