Next Two Years Look Even Better

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy

Happy Happy Happy Happy
Happy Happy Happy Happy
Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!

--"The Happy Happy Joy Joy Song" from the Ren & Stimpy Show

Yes, there's quite a bit of singing in Wichita these days.

As Aero-News reported last week, GAMA said overall GA sales numbers were way up during the third quarter.

"[We] went through some tough hunkering down," after the bottom fell out of most aviation markets four years ago, CEO Jack Pelton (below) told interviewers last week. He was quoted by the Wichita Eagle. Well, hunker down no more.

Now comes word that Cessna's sales figures have topped numbers not seen since before 9/11. Then, the company had a $6 billion backlog, which dwindled quickly after the terrorist attacks and the resulting slump in the aviation industry.  Pelton said the backlog is back up to $6 billion -- and that's not all.

The next two years are "shaping up to be strong," he told the Eagle. So strong, in fact, that Cessna is now focusing its marketing efforts on 2007 and beyond.

"The underlying strength of this company has really improved this year," said Lewis Campbell, CEO of Cessna parent company Textron. "This market expansion has kind of surprised all of us a little bit."

FMI: www.cessna.com