For the 11th consecutive quarter, business and general aviation electronics sales rose year-over-year in the third quarter, the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) announced yesterday in its latest Avionics Market Report. Total sales for the first nine months climbed 14.3 percent to $2.2 billion, compared with $2.0 billion last year.

Retrofit sales for the period totaled $1.20 billion, outpacing forward-fit sales of $1.07 billion, AEA reported. Retrofit sales were 5.4 percent higher than 2018 while forward-fit sales jumped 26.2 percent in the same period.

The largest share of sales in the first nine months, 74.9 percent, were garnered by AEA members in North America (U.S. and Canada). “As we approach nearly three years with steadily increasing sales, I'm encouraged with the upward trend as industry looks to move beyond the FAA’s ADS-B Out deadline of New Year's Day 2020,” said AEA president and CEO Mike Adamson.

AEA member repair stations reported that in addition to ADS-B Out, their workload has been driven by an increasing number of full-panel retrofits, as well as installations of new electronic flight displays, digital autopilots, engine monitor systems, and in-flight connectivity, according to a spokesman.