First-half business jet deliveries were flat year on year, while shipments of turboprop-powered aircraft climbed by nearly 10%, according to the latest figures from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.
A total of 296 business jets were handed over during the first six months of 2018, GAMA data shows – the same quantity as last year – while shipments of turboprop aircraft rose by 9.7%, to 260, against 237 over the same period in 2017.
Total billings, which also include sales of piston-powered aircraft, fell to $8.58 billion, from $9.03 billion a year earlier. Total shipments rose by 5.3%, to 1,054, up from 1,001 the previous year.
Of the big five business jet manufacturers – Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Embraer and Gulfstream – only the Canadian airframer managed to maintain the same output as it did a year earlier, shipping 65 aircraft.
Cessna handed over 84 jets, three down on the first half of 2017; Dassault delivered 15 aircraft (-2); Embraer shipped 31 (-8); and Gulfstream sold 52 units (-8).
Elsewhere, Cirrus Aircraft continued to ramp up production of its SF50 personal jet, handing over 25 examples of the single-engined type in the first half, up from just two in the same period a year earlier.
However, Honda Aircraft saw a 29% year-on-year slide in deliveries of its HA-420 HondaJet, dropping to 17 from 24 in 2017.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
