A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Textron Aviation saw a strong third quarter with revenue of $1.3 billion, a 14.7 percent year-over-year increase, according to results released Thursday morning during the company’s earnings call. The increase reflected a mix of higher volume ($89 million) and higher pricing ($82 million), the company said.
“At Aviation, we saw our strongest order quarter of the year with a 12 percent increase over the third quarter of 2022,” said Textron chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly. “Eventually, the industry has to get to [a book-to-bill of] 1:1. I don’t really think it can continue to exceed that much for that long, but obviously, our sales teams are out there and customer demand is what it is. We’re still seeing strong jet demand; we’re seeing it across all the turbo product lines, we’re seeing it virtually across all of our different aircraft types.”
For the quarter, the airframer delivered 39 Cessna jets, the same as last year’s tally, and 38 turboprops, an increase of five from last year’s this quarter. The OEM’s airplane backlog at the end of the quarter stood at $7.4 billion.
“There’s no question that right now we have customers that would like to see us have delivery dates earlier than what we’re able to promise them," said Donnelly. "Obviously, this adjustment that is going on is that, for a decade or so, customers could come in when they wanted to get a new aircraft and get something delivered in a very short period of time. That wasn’t true historically, and it's certainly not true today. Customers know what the order backlogs look like in the industry and people now realize that if you are thinking about your fleet planning, you are thinking about your current aircraft and when you are going to want to be doing an upgrade. You need to think about that being a couple of years out."
Donnelly noted that the company is still hindered by lingering supply chain pinch points, which were particularly evident in its Bell helicopter division. It delivered 23 helicopters in the third quarter, less than half the amount it did a year ago. Bell’s backlog currently amounts to $5.2 billion.
“The number of parts that come in late to PO [purchase order] has been declining through the course of the year…but it’s still a problem," he stated. "I wouldn’t say we have one big 'engine' that is driving this but as you get the end of the quarter, if you are missing parts for aircraft, you still can’t deliver that aircraft.”
Textron’s eAviation segment—led by electric training aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel—saw revenues of $7 million against a loss of $19 million in the third quarter of 2023, primarily related to research and development costs.

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

Textron Aviation Sees Strong Third Quarter in Orders and Revenue

The company's aviation division noted increases in revenues and orders from a year ago

Textron Aviation posted third-quarter results based on strong orders and higher revenues.

Textron Sees Strong Third Quarter in Orders, Revenue

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Jessica Reed

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Jo Damato and Andrew Broom assume additional responsibilities

NBAA Expands Roles for Two Senior Executives

Matt Thurber

Similarities between the piston- and jet-powered Cirruses make transition training easier

Transport Canada Certifies Cirrus SR G7 and Vision G2+

Kerry Lynch

Aircraft will be able to take off in 150 feet of runway

Electra Launches Hybrid-electric EL9 STOL Aircraft

Hanneke Weitering

First production-representative Alia CX300 takes flight

Beta Flies First Electric Airplane Produced in Vermont Factory

G700 next headed to the Bahrain International Airshow for display alongside the G500

Gulfstream’s G700 Surpasses 65 City-pair Records

Honda's secretive eVTOL program picks up steam

FAA Greenlights Honda eVTOL Flight Tests

Some models are seeing high demand, others not so much

Broker: Preowned Cessna Citation Market Remains Mixed

Charles Alcock

New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

In this article

Textron Aviation

More In Aircraft