During its earnings report presented today, Raytheon said it delivered 29 business jets and 27 King Airs in the third quarter, bringing turbine airplanes delivered in the first nine months of this year to 145 compared with 128 in the same period last year. Based on improved earnings, overall bookings and sales expectations, Raytheon Aircraft has increased its 2005 delivery forecast from 256 turbine airplanes to 267. This means that Raytheon will have to ship in the fourth quarter nearly 46 percent of its annual deliveries if it is going to meet this year-end forecast. Raytheon executives appeared unconcerned, saying the fourth quarter of this year is not "extraordinarily different from what we have seen in the past. This is pretty typical for us." Helping with deliveries in the fourth quarter will be the upgraded Premier IA, which has just been certified. Although bookings for 69 aircraft in the third quarter were off 11 units from a year ago, Raytheon noted that the period's sales were comparable to the 71 Citations booked by its main competitor, Cessna. Raytheon Aircraft said that by the end of this year it will be 50 percent sold out for next year, "by a fairly wide margin the best position we have been in in a long time."