Business and general aviation manufacturers reported another quarter of mixed results with the total number of piston, turboprop and business jet deliveries in the second quarter of 2017 edging up 2.6 percent, while billings suffered a 1.2. percent decline, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

GAMA today released the second quarter shipment results, reporting 561 total fixed-wing shipments in the three months ended June 30, compared with 547 shipments in the same period of 2016. Total billings for fixed-wing aircraft in the second quarter of 2017, meanwhile, inched down to $5.311 billion. This compares with $5.376 billion a year earlier. (GAMA plans to release helicopter results in a separate report.)

The decrease in billings comes as business jet shipments fell by five units in the second quarter, to 165 aircraft. And the mix of those deliveries helped erode billings, with deliveries of large-cabin and ultra-long-range aircraft manufacturers Bombardier and Gulfstream down by a combined 10 units and billings combining for a drop that exceeded $300 million. These declines were offset by slight upticks at HondaJet and Cessna Citation deliveries, as well as in Embraer billings.

"Results for the second quarter of this year are very much like the first: mixed, with some bright spots,” noted GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce.

For the first half, total deliveries similarly were up 2.7 percent to 995 units, while billings softened 3.4 percent to $9 billion. Despite the second quarter results, business jet shipments were up slightly by 1 percent to 295.

Meanwhile, deliveries of pressurized turboprops fell 9.6 percent year-over-year in the first half, to 104 aircraft. Notably, King Air deliveries plummeted 58.1 percent in the first six months, to 31 units, while Pilatus PC-12 shipments sunk 22.5 percent, to 31 aircraft. However, pressurized turboprop deliveries at Piper soared 87.5 percent in the first half as it ramped up production of its new M600. Shipments at Daher also climbed 27.8 percent in the same period, to include 23 TBM 910s and 930s.

In the first half results, piston aircraft deliveries led the increase in total deliveries, up 5.6 percent.  

“We hope rule rewrites in the U.S. and Europe, reorganization of the FAA certification directorate, and ongoing certification and regulatory reform efforts in Congress, including fuller utilization of the delegation authorization, will spur higher numbers in future quarters this year and the next,” Bunce added.