GAMA Second Quarter Shipments and Billings

GAMA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, released its shipments and billings report for the first half of 2025. Year over year, the industry had mixed results, with an increase of 8.4% in single-engine piston and electric aircraft and an increase of 9.9% in business jets. Single-engine turboprops were down 1.6%, with multi-engine pistons down 9.3% and multi-engine turboprops down 26.7% at the half-year mark. Total general aviation billings were up 8.1% year-over-year. The helicopter market was down 7.8% for piston helicopters and down 3.5% for turbine helicopters. Nonetheless, total rotary-wing billings were up 21.3% year-over-year, reflecting a mix change to larger aircraft. The following chart summarizes the first half years' for the industry since 2019 to provide a comparison to pre-pandemic conditions. Since the pandemic, single-engine piston aircraft have increased by 52.8%, while multi-engine piston aircraft have decreased by 17.0%. Similarly, single-engine turboprops are up 29.5% while multi-engine turboprops are down 46.3%. Business jets finally exceeded pre-pandemic levels this year, up 6.3% on 2019 levels. The pandemic recovery in the business jet market has taken five years to reach pre-pandemic levels again. Still, it remains well short of pre-pandemic projections of production levels for the industry in 2025. [caption id="attachment_107232" align="aligncenter" width="927"] GAMA[/caption] Because business jet annual sales are dominated by strong fourth quarters, we will need to wait to ascertain that the industry has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Still, we believe we will continue to see positive results through the end of 2025. The impacts of tariffs, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical issues are evolving, but are likely to curtail growth expectations in the 2026-2028 time frames. There are only 10 players in the world selling newly built business jets, including Airbus and Boeing for their converted airliners and Cirrus for its personal single-engine jet. The major business jet players include Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Honda, Pilatus, and Textron (Cessna). Deliveries in the First Half of 2025 The following chart shows deliveries for the first half of the year from 2019 to 2025. In 2025, Textron leads the way with 80 deliveries of variations for its Cessna Citation models, followed by Gulfstream with 74 deliveries, Embraer with 61, and Bombardier with 59, accounting for 274 of the 354 jets delivered by the top four players. The most significant gains were made by Embraer and Gulfstream, each riding the success of recently introduced new models. Textron and Bombardier were relatively flat, along with Cirrus, Dassault, Honda, and Pilatus. [caption id="attachment_107234" align="aligncenter" width="640"] date: GAMA[/caption] Market Share for Deliveries Market share by deliveries shows that Textron continues to lead in business jet deliveries, featuring small to mid-sized aircraft in its portfolio. Gulfstream is second, and is having a substantial year as the G700 and G800 entered service. The following pie chart shows market share by competitor, with Textron having a slight lead over Gulfstream, and Embraer surpassing Bombardier for number 3. [caption id="attachment_107235" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] For those who prefer tabular form, the following chart shows the market share of deliveries by player over the last six years. [caption id="attachment_107237" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] The trend in business jet deliveries shows significant gains at Gulfstream and Embraer over the last few years, with Textron showing a market share loss in the previous three years. Bombardier, Cirrus, and Pilatus have been relatively stable, while Honda and Dassault show lower than historic results. [caption id="attachment_107240" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] Billings in the first half of 2025 For each of the major players, total billings from all aircraft models are reported by GAMA, including piston aircraft (Cirrus and Textron), and turboprops (Textron and Pilatus). While the data do not specify revenues by model, business jets drive revenues. The following table shows billings by company for the first half of the year from 2019 to 2025. [caption id="attachment_107245" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] From a billings standpoint, Gulfstream, which focuses on large and ultra-long-range business jets, leads the way with $4.5 billion in revenues. Bombardier, which makes mid-size to ultra-long-range models, is next at $2.7 billion, and Textron, at $1.6 billion for its piston, turboprop, and business jet models. Embraer, at $963 million, is approaching the $1 billion mark for the first half of 2025. Gulfstream and Embraer have grown substantially year-over-year to improve their relative market positions. Market Share for Billings Market share for billings remains dominated by the two players selling the most expensive jets, Gulfstream and Bombardier, followed by Textron. The following pie chart shows market share for billings, with significant differences from market share for deliveries. [caption id="attachment_107246" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] For those who prefer the data in tabular form, the following chart shows billing market share for the first half of the year from 2019 through 2025. [caption id="attachment_107247" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] The trend in market share by billings shows that Gulfstream and Bombardier have maintained their leadership position, and that while Textron remains third, it is on a downward trajectory, while fourth place Embraer is on a rising trajectory, having overtaken Dassault Falcon Jet, albeit remaining much smaller than the big three competitors [caption id="attachment_107248" align="aligncenter" width="640"] data: GAMA[/caption] The Bottom Line The business aircraft market has grown in the first half of 2025, with Embraer and Gulfstream accounting for 29 of the 32 additional business jets sold year-over-year. The other players in the industry remained essentially flat. Our projections for the business jet market indicate very slow growth, consistent with recent trends. Unlike the airline market, with 7-8 year backlogs, business jets tend to have book-to-bill ratios closer to 1 to 1. As a result, the impact of an economic downturn is not immediate, but is typically seen a year or two later, given the lead time for new jets and interior completions on larger models. It is likely, in our view, that late 2026 and early 2027 will reflect the economic impacts of changing global trade on the business jet market, with a slight downturn from 2025 levels.

No results