Washington, DC—The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) today released worldwide aircraft shipment and billing figures for the first half of 2016. Industry airplane shipments declined 4.5 percent to 970 units, and airplane billings fell 11 percent from $10.4 billion to $9.3 billion. Rotorcraft shipments also dropped 16.1 percent, from 467 units during the same period a year ago to 392 units in 2016. Billings for rotorcraft fell 32.5 percent, from $2.1 billion to $1.4 billion.

“In a challenging global climate, every segment of the fixed-wing and rotorcraft market showed declines for the first half of 2016,” GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce said. “As we saw at AirVenture last week, general aviation manufacturers are working hard to regain momentum by delivering innovative new products and technologies that enhance safety and provide substantial improvement in capability.

“Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress has not done its part to support aircraft manufacturers or maintenance, repair and overhaul companies through its collective failure to include reforms of the outdated and overly prescriptive certification processes in the recently passed FAA extension. As U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) noted, excluding certification reform was ‘a sorely missed opportunity for Congress, where meaningful bipartisan accomplishments so often remain elusive.’ Additionally, U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR), the Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that overhauling the FAA’s certification processes ‘would have created jobs.’

“As these members of Congress and others recognize, general aviation manufacturers and MRO companies, along with their employees, deserve better. We hope to see greater commitment by policymakers around the globe to give manufacturers the regulatory environment they need to succeed and allow our industry to continue to move forward,” Bunce concluded.

Piston airplane deliveries were down 4.5 percent, from 464 units to 443 units. Turboprop shipments declined 4.9 percent, from 247 units to 235 units. Additionally, 292 business jet airplanes were shipped in the first half of 2016, a 4.3 percent dip from the 305 units shipped during the same period last year. Piston rotorcraft fell 10.1 percent, from 129 units to 116 units, and turbine shipments were down 18.3 percent, from 338 units in 2015 to 276 units in the first six months of this year. 

* Airbus Helicopters changed to reporting combined civil/commercial and military/government unit deliveries in second quarter 2016. This table has been adjusted for turbine helicopters to align the 2015 data shown with this change.