VOLVO AERO HAS cautioned that commercial-engine markets are unlikely to recover until 1996 at the earliest, as jet-airliner production rates begin to pick up from their present trough.
President Arne Wittlov warns that airliner output, now languishing at half of the 1991 peak of 844 aircraft, is unlikely to show significant recovery until 1997, when Volvo predicts production of 550 passenger jets.
The Swedish aero-engine business, which changed its name from Volvo Flygmotor in 1994, makes a "cautious" forecast of 4.5% annual passenger growth over the next 15 years.
The depressed market showed up in the company's financial results, with sales edging below SKr3.6 billion ($488 million), and net profits falling by nearly 70%, to SKr63 million.
Most of the sales decline came from a 17% slump in the commercial-engine business, which includes work for the General Electric CF6-80, Pratt & Whitney PW2000 and International Aero Engines V2500. A participation of the BMW Rolls-Royce BR 715 programme was signed in November. Sales slipped by 10% in the commercial-overhaul business.
Some of the commercial decline was offset by military-engine deliveries, including shipments of the RM12 for the Saab JAS-39 Gripen. Turnover grew by 5%, to SKr1.2 billion.
Source: Flight International
