Graham Warwick/Washington DC
Worldwide business aircraft deliveries rose by almost 15% in 1998, and manufacturers are projecting a further increase this year based on record order backlogs.
Piston aircraft deliveries jumped by almost 70% last year, as the US industry continued its recovery.
The US General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) says deliveries increased for the fourth year in a row, its members shipping 2,223 aircraft last year, up almost 42% over 1997 and the highest figure since 1984. Billings reached a record $5.9 billion, an increase of over 25% from the previous year.
Business aircraft manufacturers were buoyed by the strong US economy. Cessna's Citation family deliveries increased by 12% to 202 aircraft, and the company booked a record 444 orders during the year, including 50 Citation Sovereigns for Executive Jet's NetJets fractional ownership programme.
Cessna vice-chairman Gary Hay says NetJets accounted for 11% of deliveries last year and holds around 15% of the Citation backlog. Other manufacturers report similar shares of their deliveries and orderbooks for the fast-growing fractional ownership sector.
Hay says Cessna will increase Citation production to 220-225 aircraft this year. Raytheon Aircraft, whose King Air, Beechjet and Hawker shipments grew almost 12% in 1998, to 215 aircraft, says across-the-board production rate increases will boost deliveries substantially.
Internationally, Bombardier passed the 100-aircraft delivery mark, including the first Learjet 45s and Global Expresses. Dassault's Falcon deliveries dipped slightly, to 47 aircraft, because of expansion work at its Little Rock,Arkansas, completion centre. But the French manufacturer booked a record 99 new orders last year.
Last year, Boeing Business Jets shipped its first seven aircraft; Gulfstream boosted deliveries almost 20% to 61 aircraft; and Galaxy Aerospace almost doubled Astra SPX shipments to 14.
Source: Flight International
