Total Sales Exceed $1.6 Billion In First Nine Months Of 2020 -- Down 27% Over 3Q/19

AEA has released its third-quarter 2020 Avionics Market Report. In the first nine months of the year, total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales amounted to $1,670,804,856.73, or more than $1.6 billion as reported by the participating companies.

The figure represented a 27% decrease in total sales compared to the first nine months of 2019. During the third-quarter months of July, August and September, sales decreased 33.4% compared to the same time frame one year ago.

However, sales in the third quarter of 2020 were up 5.9% compared to the second quarter of this year, with retrofit sales up 10.8% over the second quarter.

Of the more than $1.6 billion in sales during the first nine months of 2020, 54.5% came from the retrofit market (avionics equipment installed after original production), while forward-fit sales (avionics equipment installed by airframe manufacturers during original production) amounted to 45.5% of sales.

According to the companies that separated their total sales figures between North America (U.S. and Canada) and other international markets, 73.7% of the year-to-date sales volume occurred in North America (U.S. and Canada), while 26.3% took place in other international markets.

"The significant contraction of industry sales during the last six months has been driven by the international health crisis," said AEA President and CEO Mike Adamson.

"However, we are encouraged with the direction of activity in the retrofit market, which is up nearly 11% over second-quarter total sales. In addition, the overwhelming majority of AEA member shops and manufacturers are continuing their essential operations, and many are reporting customer backlogs that extend several weeks and into next year."

FMI: www.aea.net