Third-quarter deliveries show stronger year for local planemakers

General aircraft deliveries and billings in the third quarter for Wichita-area aircraft makers were up compared with the third quarter of 2013, according to totals released Thursday by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

Through the first three quarters, 2014 has been a considerably better year for local planemakers than 2013. However, how strong the year ultimately winds up will depend on the strength of the fourth quarter, traditionally the biggest for deliveries.

In the third quarter:

▪ Textron Aviation shipped 158 aircraft with billings of $598.7 million.

▪ The Cessna side delivered 113 of those aircraft in the quarter for $385.1 million, compared with 90 aircraft for $286.1 million in the third quarter of 2013.

▪ The Beechcraft side delivered 45 of the aircraft in the quarter for $213.6 million, compared with 38 aircraft for $174.4 million in the third quarter of 2013.

▪ Bombardier delivered eight Learjet aircraft in the quarter, compared with two a year ago. Billings for Learjet aircraft are not broken out.

About every sector of general aviation saw growth, except for turboprops, said Jens Hennig, vice president of operations for GAMA, which he chalked up in part to falling farm spending around the world.

He said observers of the general aviation market said demand for light and medium-sized jets, Wichita’s most important product, is slowly coming back.

Smaller and medium-sized jets tend to sell mainly for domestic use in the U.S. and Europe, which have seen restrained economic growth in recent years, while larger corporate jets sell in developing countries or to very large corporations for longer-range service.

“The United States is finally in a growth situation in 2014 and hopefully more sales will materialize in the next year, and Europe is starting to look better, but the macro-economic status is something we are watching very closely,” Hennig said.

He said the number of new and reworked small and medium-sized models coming onto the market should also whet appetites.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Third-quarter deliveries show stronger year for local planemakers."