Strong Fourth Quarter Pushes Total Year-End Sales Beyond $2.4 Billion

The Aircraft Electronics Association released its 2015 year-end Avionics Market Report. Total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales for the year amounted to $2,416,438,987.42, or more than $2.4 billion. The figure represented a 4.4 percent decrease in sales compared to the previous year as reported by the participating companies in 2014.

The 2015 year-end totals do not exactly equal the sum of the four quarterly amounts as reported earlier in the year. This variance is the result of seasonally adjusted year-end numbers by some of the participants. In addition, the number of companies that participate in the AEA Avionics Market Report may change on a quarterly and/or annual basis. This may occur due to mergers and acquisitions during the year along with new companies participating in the reporting process. Any comparative analysis of the data should take this variance into consideration.
 
The dollar amount reported (using net sales price, not manufacturer's suggested retail price) includes: all business and general aviation aircraft electronic sales -- including all component and accessories in cockpit/cabin/software upgrades/portables/certified and noncertified aircraft electronics; all hardware (tip to tail); batteries; and chargeable product upgrades from the participating manufacturers. The amount does not include repairs and overhauls, extended warranty or subscription services.
 
Of the more than $2.4 billion in sales in 2015, 50.9 percent came from forward-fit (avionics equipment installed by airframe manufacturers during original production) sales, or more than $1.2 billion. The forward-fit market accounted for 51.4 percent of total sales in 2014 and 54.1 percent of total sales in 2013.
 
By contrast, the retrofit (avionics equipment installed after original production) market showed an increase in its percentage of total sales for the third straight year. Retrofit sales amounted to 49.1 percent of sales in 2015, while the retrofit market accounted for 48.6 percent of total sales in 2014 and 45.9 percent of total sales in 2013.
 
According to the companies that separated their total sales figures between North America (U.S. and Canada) and other international markets, 64.2 percent of the 2015 sales volume occurred in North America (U.S. and Canada), while 35.8 percent took place in other international markets.

"As noted earlier this year, the report showed some softness in sales during the first nine months of 2015, as sales were down 7.5 percent compared to the first nine months of 2014," said AEA President Paula Derks. "However, that trend reversed itself during the fourth quarter, as sales topped $653 million, a 7.2 increase from the $609 million in sales during the last three months of 2014. Despite the positive surge late in the year, our industry reported a 4.4 percent decline in year-over-year sales from 2014. Another interesting note is the fact that total sales are now nearly evenly split between the retrofit and forward-fit markets."
 
Below is a review of the year-end totals for the four-year history of the AEA Avionics Market Report. Participating companies began separating total sales into retrofit/forward-fit sales in 2013.

(Source: AEA news release)

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