ON FEB. 20, THE GENERAL AVIATIONManufacturers Association (GAMA) will release the unit delivery and billings figures for aircraft produced by its members in 2018. Barring a production blowout in the last quarter, these statistics will underscore that the industry has yet to regain full health since its clobbering in the Great Recession a decade ago.In 2008, manufacturers delivered 3,970 business jets, turboprops and piston engine aircraft, valued at $24.7 billion. As of the end of last September, the 2018 totals were 1,625 aircraft worth $12.7 billion. The shipmentswere up in all categories-a first since 2008-but total billings represented a decrease from the same period a year earlier.Although acknowledging some "soft spots in a few segments," GAMA President/CEO Pete Bunce said at the time, "I'm optimistic about our industry's performance in 2019 given continuing healthy demand for tax expensing, stabilization of the used market and the number of new products [entering] the marketplace."
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