GAMA found that aircraft shipments rose across all segments compared to 2022, coming in at 3,050 airplanes and 962 helicopters delivered in 2023. The numbers represent year-on-year increases of 9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively. Overall airplane billings for last year rose 2.2 percent to $23.4 billion while total helicopter billings increased 11.2 percent to $4.4 billion.

“For the first time in more than a decade, the general aviation manufacturing industry has eclipsed 4,000 aircraft delivered,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. “In addition to this strong showing, there are robust and growing order backlogs for all segments of aircraft. This is a testament to the resilience of our industry and the integral role that general and business aviation plays in our communities.”

Breaking down the numbers, piston airplane deliveries were up 11.8 percent from 1,505 in 2022 to 1,682 in 2023. Turboprop shipments also surged, hitting 638 delivered last year and improving 9.6 percent over the previous year. While business jet deliveries saw the least change, the segment still increased 2.5 percent with 730 delivered.

On the rotorcraft side, 209 piston helicopters shipped last year, up from 194 in 2022. Turbine helicopter deliveries jumped 10.4 percent. GAMA noted that fourth-quarter data from Leonardo Helicopters was not available when the report was published, so it excluded Leonardo’s Q4 2022 data from its comparison.

• READ MORE: GAMA Reports Year-Over-Year Increase in Aircraft Shipments In a ‘Governed’ Recovery

“While the deliveries from 2023 are very encouraging, our industry faces headwinds from ongoing supply chain issues, workforce shortages, uncertainty and unpredictability from global regulators, and shortsighted efforts aimed at curbing business and general aviation, particularly in Europe,” said Bunce. “As civil aviation’s innovation incubator, our entire GA industry is focused on new aircraft and technologies that will lead the way in safety and sustainability for the entire aviation sector. This progress is dependent on having effective, predictable, and accountable regulatory processes, and a supportive business environment.

“Therefore, it is crucial that the U.S. Congress passes a long-term FAA reauthorization bill, a fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill for the FAA, and a tax measure, which is pending, that promotes research and development.”

GAMA’s full report is available on its website.

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While the numbers indicate the market is holding steady, there are signs of concern. Bottlenecks in certification and supply chain, and a minor downtick in business jet operations—depending on whom you speak with—continue to produce drag on an industry seeking to innovate sustainable and efficient solutions in the face of outside attacks on the use of private aviation.

GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce was blunt about the success of the industry in spite of that friction. 

“The continued health of the general aviation manufacturing industry is encouraging, particularly in light of persistent supply chain, workforce, and North American regulatory process challenges,” said Bunce in a statement from GAMA with the report. “Our manufacturers are focused on meeting this thriving product demand with new aircraft which incorporate advanced technologies that further enhance safety and fuel performance. During this transformative time in aerospace, our manufacturers continually demonstrate that our sector is the technology incubator for safety and sustainability.” 

Outside Pressure Creating Friction

The events of the past week drew Bunce’s comments to a specific point. “This message is being emphasized this week at [the European Business Aviation Conference and Expo] in Geneva and will also be a focus at the Paris Air Show as we counter the shortsighted, irrational attacks directed upon business aviation in Europe. 

“In stark contrast, emphasis on our demonstrated record of environmental sustainability leadership was very well received on Capitol Hill in early May when GAMA member company leaders participated in more than 125 meetings with U.S. legislators. Other issues discussed with senators and representatives across the political spectrum included the immediate need for a confirmed FAA administrator, improved training for the young FAA workforce, strengthened bilateral engagement, and timely passage of an FAA reauthorization bill to provide clear, multiyear direction for the agency.” 

The full downloadable report can be found here.

First Quarter 2023 Shipments and Billings

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Overall, the news is good—at least on the airplane side of the house, with deliveries up nearly 10 percent over the same period in 2021 and the total dollar amount up by 5.2 percent.

Things were a bit more measured for rotorcraft, with deliveries overall gaining just 0.6 percent and total billings down by 5.6 percent, or roughly $100 million.

“Despite ongoing supply chain and workforce issues, our industry continues to make progress and strategically posture for the future, which is a true testament to our strength and durability,” said GAMA’s president and CEO Pete Bunce.

“Demand for general aviation aircraft continues at a robust pace. Since the initial setbacks of the pandemic, we have seen some segments make strides with growing backlogs and high rates of operations while others are still diligently working to navigate the path to recovery.”

Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Overall, results from the first half of 2022 indicate strongly that the industry is well into recovery from the anemic pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. In fact, shipments for airplanes overall came in slightly higher than the figures for 2019, with 1,174 deliveries through the end of June 2022 versus 1,137 for the same period in 2019.

Especially strong, compared to 2019, are single-engine piston airplane sales, which are nearly 9 percent higher than three years ago, with 638 shipments overall. 

Billings, however, are for the airplane segment in total versus pre-pandemic numbers, notching $5.271 million against $5.581 million—reflective of the fact that business jet sales (the most expensive mounts in the airplane category) still haven’t come back completely. There were 289 deliveries for the first half of 2022 and 333 for the term three years ago. Indications are strong from turbine-producing OEMs that as they work through backlogs of six to 18 months and solve supply chain pain points, those numbers will improve over the remainder of 2022.

So What’s Up?

The top winners for piston airplane shipments included Cirrus and Diamond, with significant increases in SR20 and DA40 shipments respectively.

In a statement to FLYING, Cirrus Aircraft CEO Zean Nielsen said the company historically has “consistently had a stronger delivery quarter in Q2 than Q1. Recently, we have seen momentum in our fleet business and delivered more aircraft to fleet customers in the first half of 2022 than we have in the past several years.

“In addition, our non-fleet flight training business continues to see strong growth; more people are choosing to make personal aviation a part of their lives and learning to fly in a SR20 at their local Cirrus Training Center. Both resulted in a strong 1H of SR20 training aircraft deliveries in 2022.”

Diamond also reported improvements post-pandemic. “Our Q2 numbers will have seen an improvement as our supply chain issues continue to recover from the COVID disruptions,” said Trevor Mustard, aircraft sales manager for Diamond in a statement to FLYING. “Additionally, there have been further efforts to ramp up our production at all our facilities in order to meet the steady demand from our customer base. Fleet (training) and private owners make up an estimated 60:40 percent ratio, respectively.”

Also back in the fight: turboprop sales, which suffered particularly in 2020, falling from 231 deliveries in 2019 to 152 in 2020 for the first two quarters of those years. Through June 2022, GA turboprop manufacturers reported 247 shipments with projections for a strong second half of the year as well.

The Not-So-Good News

Multiengine piston sales remain soft, though with some recovery in the first six months of this year—and rotorcraft sales overall are just beginning to bounce back. Helicopter OEMs shipped 414 total units in the first half of 2019, but just 257 in 2020 for that period, and 344 for the same range in 2022.

Six Month Aircraft Shipments and Billings

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