Q3 business jet deliveries up 7% year-over-year

Business jet deliveries were up 7% in the third quarter of 2019 when compared to Q3 2018 says the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA).

According to the GAMA report, 183 business jets were delivered in Q3 2019, 12 more than the 171 delivered in the same period the previous year.

Most of the gains were in the long-range, midsize and super-midsize cabin categories, with long-range and midsize categories seeing double-digit increases in delivery numbers.

In the midsize cabin category, it was the PC-24 that saw the biggest hike in delivery numbers, with the five aircraft jump almost doubling the amount of business jets that Pilatus delivered in the third quarter of 2019. The company delivered 11 PC-24s in Q3 2019 versus six in Q3 2018, roughly equivalent to an 83.3% spike.

Smaller increases were recorded by the Learjet 75, Legacy 450, Citation XLS+ and Citation Latitude. Overall, no aircraft in the midsize category saw fewer deliveries in Q3 2019 than in Q3 2018.

Long-range deliveries were bolstered by strong delivery numbers from Gulfstream, which increased its large-cabin deliveries from 21 aircraft in Q3 2018 to 29 in Q3 2019. The jump, equivalent to a 38% increase is likely to be from increased shipments of the company’s new G500 and G600 business jets.

Bombardier, which recently started grouping its aircraft families together when it reports delivery data to GAMA, delivered a total of nine Global family aircraft in the third quarter of 2019. In Q3 2018 it delivered seven Global family aircraft.

The Canadian manufacturer began deliveries of its new Global 7500 in the fourth quarter of 2018, so it is likely that the two aircraft year on year increase is likely to be accounted for by Global 7500 shipments.

The number of deliveries in the super-midsize cabin category more than doubled year-on-year, from eight aircraft to 17. The increase was largely as a result of Embraer shipping seven of its new Praetor 600 jets. The Praetor 600 was certificated earlier in 2019 and was followed several months later by its smaller stablemate the Praetor 500.

Elsewhere in the midsize cabin category, Gulfstream saw a 50% increase in deliveries of its G280. The company delivered nine aircraft in the third quarter of 2019, versus six in the third quarter of 2018.

With Bombardier switching to reporting by aircraft family, it is impossible to analyse any differences in the large cabin-category deliveries.
The company has recently begun grouping the Challenger 350 midsize cabin and Challenger 650 large-cabin jets together. Dassault, which has several aircraft in the large-cabin category, groups all of its aircraft together, and only reports data to GAMA every six months.

Embraer, with its large-cabin Legacy 650, saw no deliveries in Q3 2019, a drop of two aircraft from the two aircraft in the third quarter of 2018.

In the Very Light Jet category, it was again the Cirrus SF50 that saw the biggest hike in deliveries, this time jumping from 16 deliveries in Q3 2018 to 21 deliveries in Q3 2019. The jump in SF50 deliveries has not been as pronounced as in previous quarters as the company has begun to normalise its production schedules, following its initial delivery push.

Earlier in the year the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the worldwide fleet of SF50s after several reported issues with the aircraft’s angle of attack (AoA) sensor. An emergency airworthiness directive was issued a shortly after the grounding, which required all aircraft to be fitted with improved AoA sensors before they could fly again.

Elsewhere in the sector, the Phenom 100E and Citation M2 both saw one aircraft fewer delivered year-on-year.

Overall, GAMA says that business-jet deliveries increased by 15.4% in the first nine months of 2019 versus the same period in 2018.

GAMA’s data also includes turboprop and piston-driven aircraft, as well as helicopters.

“The first nine months of 2019 show positive results for business jets and piston airplanes,” said Pete Bunce, president & CEO, GAMA.

“Turboprops and rotorcraft, however, continued to encounter headwinds. Despite these mixed results, our manufacturers continue their investments in advanced factory machinery, design software, and associated processes that keep product development cycles robust and in-turn bring advances in fuel efficiency, capability, and safety to the global fleet.”