Total general aviation (GA) airplane billings in the first half of the year reached $10.4 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released yesterday by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). This is the first time since the first half of 2008 that six-month industry revenues have exceeded $10 billion.

While overall GA airplane shipments rose 8.9 percent from the first six months of last year, business jet deliveries decreased by 4.1 percent, falling by 12 aircraft to 283 shipments. On the turboprop side, the results were positive.

GAMA recently divided its reporting of the turboprop segment into single- and multi-engine categories. While the former showed a 3.8-percent increase year-over-year, filtering out non-pressurized aircraft reveals a 4-percent decrease among the pressurized turboprop singles. Thanks to a ramp-up in King Air production–with delivery of 24 more aircraft in the first half of this year than in the same period last year–Beechcraft single-handedly boosted the twin-engine turboprop category by more than 70 percent year-over-year.

“We are encouraged to see a strong increase in billings this quarter, but the mixed results in shipments–and the differences in performance among sectors–demonstrate that GA airplane manufacturers still face some strong headwinds as the global economy recovers,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce.