Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
BUSINESS-JET shipments by US manufacturers slipped in the first six months of 1996, but are expected to pick up in the second half as production increases, initiated in 1995, work their way through. Compared with the first half of 1995, business-jet deliveries fell by almost 10% - to 95 aircraft.
Raytheon shipped nine fewer business jets in the first half, believed to be the result of a lack of inventory following delivery of a record 64 Beechjet 400As, Hawker 800s and Hawker 1000s in 1995. The company compensated by shipping 43 King Air turboprops - 27 more than in the first half of 1995. Raytheon also delivered more piston-powered aircraft - 58, compared with 48 in the same period of 1995.
Deliveries by Gulfstream and Learjet also slipped slightly. Cessna, however, increased business-jet shipments, delivering 53 aircraft compared with 50 in the first half of 1995, despite producing only three models of the Citation - the CitationJet, Ultra and VII. Deliveries of the Citation Bravo and X begin in the second half of 1996. Shipments of Caravan turboprops also increased, from 39 to 50.
Overall, shipments were up by more than 10% in the first six months of 1996, to 503 aircraft worth $1.25 billion, says the US General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
Source: Flight International
