Overall growth in total sales 6.9 percent; forward-fit and retrofit sales reported for first time.

The Aircraft Electronics Association announced its 2013 year-end Avionics Market Report during the opening general session of the 57th annual AEA International Convention & Trade Show Thursday at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, TN.

As part of its report, the AEA also announced it has narrowed the dollar amount reported by the participating manufacturers to only include the business and general aviation markets, which resulted in the association adjusting its 2012 year-end sales figure reported a year ago.

With this adjustment, 2013 year-end total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales amounted to $2,429,298,684.50, or more than $2.4 billion.

This compares to the adjusted amount of $2,229,317,197.54, or more than $2.2 billion for 2012 year-end total sales.

The number of companies that participate in the report may change on a quarterly, semiannual and/or annual basis, and any comparative analysis of the data should take this into consideration. Therefore, while the total year-end sales indicate a 9 percent increase, when comparing total sales reported by the same participating companies in 2012 and 2013, the report shows sales growth of 6.9 percent.

In addition, of the more than $2.4 billion in total sales reported for 2013, $1,315,035,458.50, or more than $1.3 billion, came from forward-fit sales and accounted for 54 percent of total sales.
 
Retrofit sales amounted to $1,114,263,226.00, or more than $1.1 billion, comprising 46 percent of total sales.

“The association and the participating manufacturers agreed that it was important to adjust the report to only reflect the amount of total avionics sales in the business and general aviation markets,” said Paula Derks, AEA president (pictured). “It was recently discovered that some of the participating manufacturers inadvertently included sales from their military and air transport markets when they reported 2012 year-end sales figures. However, the mission of the AEA Avionics Market Report is to exclusively measure the value of the avionics industry for business and general aviation, both forward-fit and retrofit sales.

“It's also important to note that the 2012 year-end adjusted amount is not a reflection of a downturn in sales. It is simply a correction of last year's sales total for the business and general aviation market only, and we do not expect any further adjustments to future reporting.”

As anticipated, the data in the 2013 year-end report was expanded from the previous year's report. The participating manufacturers not only reported their total sales amount, but they also reported the total sales generated in both the forward-fit and retrofit markets for the first time.

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/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.

FMI: www.aea.net