Q2 Avionics Sales Increase Nearly 12 Percent

Forward-fit sales during the second quarter led the way over retrofits, with $3.73 billion and $3.35 billion, respectively. The report said forward-fit sales during this year's first six months were 35.6 percent more than during the same time in 2021. This makes sense as aircraft manufacturers, such as Bombardier, reported last week that they expected to sell more than 120 executive jets this year (as they did in 2021) and had a $14.7 billion order backlog.

Moreover, AEA said the more than $373 million in forward-fit sales marks the second-largest sales total in that category in the report's history, just shy of the more than $376 million reported in the second quarter of 2019.

By region, the association said the U.S. and Canada generated 73.6 percent of the six-month sales activity this year.

In a statement, AEA president and CEO Mike Adamson said, "It is encouraging to see sales continue to climb." Still, Adamson said members reported that price inflation may have bumped the numbers up. "Companies participating in the market report indicated they had increased their prices nearly 6 percent, which is substantial," Adamson pointed out. However, that was still below the 8.5 percent rise in the U.S. annual consumer price index reported in July, which could mean some sales were actually at a loss as businesses prepared for a potential recession.

In the end, Adamson commended suppliers for withstanding increasing costs and supply chain disruptions.

"The effort to manage and maintain the flow of products by our avionics OEMs dealing with supply constraints and the ever-increasing cost to produce and recertify their products is extraordinary."