The GAMA 2023 Shipments and Billings report was released earlier today, summarizing the results for the general aviation industry for the 4th quarter and full year 2023. Business aviation continued its slow improvement during the fourth quarter, with single engine piston and turboprop aircraft above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Business jets remained soft, reaching 93.9% of 2019 deliveries, and billings were also soft, at 95.5% of 2019 levels due to supply chain constraints in the business jet market. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the industry still has a long way to go to achieve pre-pandemic revenues.
The trend from multi-engine to single-engine aircraft continued in both piston and turboprop models. While we expect this trend to change once electrified aircraft become mainstream, we are still several years away from hybrid electrified multi-engine aircraft.
The helicopter market, however, has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with billings 6.2% above 2019 levels (albeit still not there when inflation adjusted) and units up 34.2% for piston and 7.6% for turbine helicopters.
The following table shows results from 2019-2023 and illustrates the slow recovery of the industry post-pandemic.
For the full year 2023, trends were similar to those in the 4th quarter. Business jet deliveries reached 90.2% of 2019 levels while billings were 99.4% of 2019 levels on the strength of single engine piston and turboprop growth. Helicopter shipments were up 9.7% over 2019 levels, with billings up 15.0% over 2019 levels, recovering faster than the business jet market.
The GAMA 2023 Shipments and Billings report was released earlier today, summarizing the results for the general aviation industry for the 4th quarter and full year 2023. Business aviation continued its slow improvement during the fourth quarter, with single engine piston and turboprop aircraft above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Business jets remained soft, reaching 93.9% of 2019 deliveries, and billings were also soft, at 95.5% of 2019 levels due to supply chain constraints in the business jet market. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the industry still has a long way to go to achieve pre-pandemic revenues.
