Two Plus Nine... Carry The One...

On Tuesday, two notable general aviation and bizav manufacturers released their final sales numbers for 2007, ahead of next week's Annual Industry Review meeting of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association in Washington, DC.

Hawker Beechcraft reported 150 business and general aviation aircraft deliveries for its fourth quarter, and 430 total deliveries for 2007. Deliveries for the full year 2007 include those delivered by Raytheon Aircraft, the predecessor business to HBAC, in the first calendar quarter of the year.

The information was reported as part of an industry-wide statistical accumulation of aircraft deliveries by GAMA. Below is the breakdown of deliveries for Q4 and the full year, by aircraft type:

Also on Thursday, Bell Helicopter announced 2007 saw another double digit increase in the number of commercial helicopters delivered by the company.

"Over the past few years we have been expanding our capacity in response to the marketplace demand for our products," said Bob Fitzpatrick, Bell’s senior vice president for Marketing and Sales. "In 2007 our deliveries increased 14% over 2006, which, in turn, was a 29% increase from 2005.

"We ended December with a total of 181 new helicopters delivered to our customers," Fitzpatrick continued. "These deliveries represent every market segment and region of the world.  Additionally we delivered 14 Huey II kits that provide significant new capabilities for our customers flying this aircraft."

Bell reports unprecedented demand for its helicopters as fleet expansion and replacement activities have accelerated. As ANN reported, Bell announced in January it would streamlining its product line to help meet this demand, while simultaneously taking steps to increase production capacity to match customer requirements and market demand.

FMI: www.hawkerbeechcraft.com, www.bellhelicopter.com, www.gama.aero