7 May 2009
GAMA (the General Aviation Manufacturers Association) has published its first quarter figures for 2009, and they make uncomfortable reading. There are no real surprises – given the recession, the figures were expected to be bad – with the headline being that deliveries in the first quarter fell to 462 (compared to 785 in the first quarter of 2008).
Financially, overall billings fell to $4.3 billion from the $5.3 billion in the previous year.
Among the individual manufacturers Cessna saw a drop of 41.6% in its income with its piston deliveries falling from 133 to just 46. Cirrus deliveries dropped from 76 to 39 and Diamond’s from 101 to 45. The small manufacturers are clearly facing hard times with Maule delivering only 4 aircraft (9 last year), Mooney delivering 3 (13 last year) and Liberty handing over 2 (10 last year).
The only companies to buck the trend were Gulfstream which had a turnover of $1,279 million – up from $1,170 million last year – though even they shipped fewer aircraft (31 vs 37), and SOCATA which delivered eight TBM 850s (8 last year).
The only bright spots are that Cessna handed over 29 Mustangs (15 last year) and Embraer delivered six Phenom 100s, while turboprop deliveries were up Turboprop deliveries 3.4% from 89 to 92.
<b>Rod Simpson</b>
