Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” a quote attributed to Allen Saunders and popularized by John Lennon, might be thought of as a pithy summary of 2020, a year that started with great promise and ended, at best, with uncertainty. Along the way, we all learned new things we would have preferred not to, and likely were unable to do things we had long planned. What 2021 will end up like is anyone’s guess but—as far as general aviation is concerned—we at least have data on how it’s starting.
The numbers come courtesy of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), which in February announced its 2020 year-end aircraft billing and shipment numbers. According to the organization, aircraft deliveries during the year were valued at $22.8 billion, a sharp drop when compared to $27.8 billion in 2019. Somewhat surprisingly, at least to us, piston airplane deliveries turned out to be relatively steady, with a decline of less than one percent, while turboprop, business jet and helicopter deliveries declined between 15 and 20 percent when compared to 2019.
