On Monday, September 9, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) released its findings on the general aviation and private aviation markets for the first half of 2024. This period, which ended at the end of June, showed an increase in both general aviation aircraft and private aviation aircraft. This is compared to the first half of 2023.
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Recognizing industry-wide trends
GAMA released its Second Quarter 2024 General Aviation Aircraft Shipment and Billing Report on September 9. This compares the general aviation market from the first six months of 2024 to the first six months of 2023 and recognizes any changing trends in demand. The GAMA report analyzes both deliveries and billings to recognize any increases or decreases across major markets.
The President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAMA, Pete Bunce, spoke about the demand changes in a statement. Bunce stated,
“Through the first half of 2024, we continue to see robust demand for new aircraft, as indicated by the impressive backlogs and plans for facility expansion by many of our OEMs.”
Bunce also mentioned several recurring themes for many aircraft manufacturers. He mentioned that ongoing industry constraints include ongoing supply chain issues and workforce turnover. These issues can compound and cause lasting issues for original equipment manufacturers (OEM).
Bunce also mentioned that many OEMs have ongoing issues due to FAA specialists’ lack of responsiveness and urgency. Specifically, Bunce stated that many OEMs find that regulators lack decision-making skills regarding documents like issue papers, certification plans, and regular correspondence, which may build up and cause delays in both new and existing programs. These issues may accumulate to prevent consistent deliveries. However, Bunce continued, stating,
“It is vital that our regulators continue to improve effectiveness and efficiency of certification and validation processes, appropriately apply the safety continuum across the spectrum of general aviation products and respond to applicants in a timely manner.”
A look at billings and deliveries in 2024 so far
Overall, several segments of the aviation industry saw increases year-over-year. This piston market saw an increase of 7.3%, as over 760 piston-powered aircraft were delivered in the first half of 2024. Turboprop deliveries, however, saw a slight decrease in the general aviation market. Approximately 280 turboprop-powered aircraft were delivered in the first half of 2024, a 3.4% decrease compared to 2023, which saw 290 turboprop-powered aircraft delivered.
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The most significant increase year-over-year was found in the private aviation sector. Business jets saw 322 total deliveries in the first half of 2024. This was an 8.8% increase year-over-year. Overall, the first half of 2024 saw 1,363 total private jets delivered. This was a 5.3% increase from the 1,295 that were delivered in the first half of 2023. The total airplane billings also saw a significant increase. The 2024 first-half total reached $11.3 billion, which was a 24.2% increase compared to the $9.1 billion total that was recorded in the first half of 2023. This increase in both billings and deliveries shows a positive outlook in both the private aviation and general aviation markets.