Forward-Fit Avionics Sales in Q3 Highest On Record

AEA said avionics sales increased 4.6 percent from the second to the third quarter this year, marking nine consecutive quarters of increasing sales, the association said. Comparing July to September 2021 with the same period in 2022, avionics sales increased by 23.2 percent.

The report was compiled using data from participating companies, AEA said.

The news comes as the aircraft purchasing market has also seen an uptick, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association's (GAMA) third-quarter shipping and billing report released in November.

The $2.08 billion in forward and retrofit sales for the first nine months of 2022 was 18.3 percent more than during the same period in 2021, AEA said. Following earlier trends, forward-fit sales led the way over retrofits, with $407 million and $333 million, respectively. 

AEA said the more than $407 million in forward-fit sales was the largest in the report's history, topping the previous high of $376 million that came back during the 2019 second quarter.

The rise in sales has been focused on one region, according to the report. The U.S. and Canada generated 73.7 percent of the nine-month sales activity this year.

"While year-over-year avionics sales in the retrofit market are nearly flat, the overwhelming majority of the total sales growth is taking place in the forward-fit market," AEA president and CEO Mike Adamson said in a statement. "Avionics installed in newly manufactured aircraft were valued at more than $400 million this quarter for the first time in our report's history, and our industry is seeing a healthy demand for brand-new general aviation aircraft."