Aircraft Manufacturing Down in 2011

Isabel Goyer

Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 02:08 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

General aviation unit deliveries saw a slight decline in 2011, though overall billings improved marginally due to strong performance in large and mid-sized jets, despite significant drops in light jet and piston aircraft sales.
A notable geographical shift in sales occurred, with North America barely maintaining a majority and the Asia Pacific region surpassing Europe in unit sales for the first time.
GAMA is actively working with the U.S. administration to highlight the general aviation industry's critical role in job creation and its positive export surplus, despite political criticism of business jets.

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Amidst all the numbers and trends reported at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) annual press event in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, the recurring message was, “it could have been worse.”

It could have been. GAMA member companies delivered 1,865 airplanes in 2011, a 3.5 percent decline compared to the 1,932 delivered in 2010. Dollar figures were actually slightly improved in 2011 with 19.1 billion in billings, a half percent better than the previous year.