Airplane shipment numbers released today by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) starkly demonstrate the effect the economic downturn has had on the OEMs so far this year. During the first three quarters manufacturers delivered 615 business jets, a decline of nearly 38 percent from the 988 handed over during the same period in last year’s peak production year. The turboprop segment also experienced a slowdown of almost 16 percent, with the number of deliveries down to 293 during the first three quarters of this year from 348 in the first nine months of last year. Overall industry billings fell 23.5 percent, to $13.8 billion year-to-year. “The shipment and billings figures are a result of this difficult business cycle and reflect the impact of the weak economy,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. He added, “Another contributing factor that has led to the disappointing year-to-year numbers is the unwarranted negative attacks on business aviation.” The piston airplane segment saw the worst erosion, with deliveries shrinking nearly 60 percent to 679 so far this year from 1,646 in last year’s first three quarters.