The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has recently released their 2013 General Aviation Statistical Databook & 2014 Industry Outlook. The report included data on sales of new business jets in 2013, which showed a small 0.9% increase in the number of planes sold, from 672 in 2012 to 678 in 2013.
The table above shows the breakdown of sales by aircraft manufacturer. The significant plane model sales included the following:
Bombardier:
Challenger 300 - 55 sold
Global 5000 - 62 sold
Dassault:
Falcon 7X - 43 sold
Embraer:
Phenom 300 - 60 sold
Gulfstream:
G300/350/400/450/500/550/650 - 121 sold
Some important things to note:
- The significant Beechcraft drop is a result of them exiting the business jet market when they emerged from bankruptcy early in 2013. They are now focusing on their King Air turbo-props and piston engine aircraft. See more information in this article about the restructuring.
- Bombardier had the first sales of its new light Learjet 70/75. These aircraft are an enhancement of the Learjet 40/45 and provide over 2,000 nm range and up to 8 club seats, and are priced up to $13.5m.
- Embraer saw continued increases in the sales of its popular Phenom 300, with unit sales growing from 48 to 60. Several fractional operators have this aircraft in their fleets. SherpaReport has covered the operating costs for the Phenom 300 here. This earlier article covers the various fractional programs for the Phenom 300.
- Gulfstream saw the biggest growth, with increasing deliveries of its large G300-G650 range. A total of 39 more aircraft were sold in 2013 compared to 2012 and the sales are well above the prior, pre-recession peak of 88 aircraft in 2008. The largest of these, the new G650, has a list price of over $64m.
- Overall unit sales were still well below the record 1,315 aircraft sold in 2008, although total billings of $21.1 billion for the 678 aircraft sold in 2013 are approaching the $21.9 billion in 2008. This reflects the higher unit prices as more of the recent sales were for larger aircraft.
The GAMA Statistical Databook also includes an overview of other aircraft sectors. Here are the highlights:
- Total airplane shipments increased to 2,256 (up 4.3%) and billings increased to $23.4 billion (up 24%). This represents the second-highest industry billing number. In addition there were 1,117 total helicopter shipments, worth $2.9 billion.
- With an increase of 9.2% shipments year over year, the turbine helicopter market also saw positive growth.
- The turbo-prop airplane segment grew from 584 shipments to 645 (10.4%) year over year.
- Piston airplane deliveries grew by 2.8% from 908 shipments in 2012 to 933 shipments in 2013.
As a comparison, last week we published the number of used business jets sold and for sale in 2013. Overall there was a slight increase in the used jets sold in 2013 and a drop in the used jets for sale at the end of the year.