Textron Aviation’s fourth-quarter 2024 profit sunk by nearly one-half year on year, due largely to a machinists’ strike that halted production and held up aircraft deliveries.

Parent company Textron said on 22 January that its Wichita, Kansas-based manufacturer turned a $100 million profit in the fourth quarter, down from $193 million in the same period of 2023.

Deliveries in teh final three months of the year slipped to 88 aircraft, including 32 Cessna jets, against 103 aircraft, including 50 jets, in the prior-year period.

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Source: Textron Aviation

Textron Aviation delivered 13 of its twin-turboprop Skycouriers in 2024

Speaking during an earnings call, Textron chief financial officer Frank Connor attributes the results to “manufacturing inefficiencies, which included idle facility costs and high costs associated with the labour disruption”.

Textron Aviation’s production ground to a halt when employees represented by the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers walked off the job on 23 September after failing to approve a new proposed contract.

The strike lasted 27 days, ending on 20 October when union members ratified a new deal.

Textron chief executive Scott Donnelly says the strike did allow Textron Aviation to get a better handle on its supply chain, saying the company took the “opportunity to significantly improve our parts flow to the production line, which we expect will reduce our out-of-station work and improve efficiency”.

Denali

Source: Textron Aviation

Textron Aviation aims for its delayed Denali to be certificated in 2025

Separately, Donnelly says Textron Aviation has now logged more than 2,500 flight-test hours of its long-delayed, in-development Denali single-engined turboprop. However, he provided no more details.

Executives have previously said the type, development of which it disclosed 10 years ago, will enter service in 2025. But the company has also repeatedly delayed the programme, including for reasons relating to the Denali’s GE Aerospace Catalyst engine.

Despite a difficult fourth quarter, Textron Aviation turned a $5.28 billion full-year 2024 profit, only a whisker less than the $5.37 billion it recorded a year earlier.

It delivered 281 aircraft in 2024, including 151 Cessna jets and 70 Caravans, while on the Beechcraft side, 44 King Airs and 13 Skycouriers were shipped. Textron Aviation delivered a total of 297 aircraft in 2023.