SETP Shipments slump as Pistons forge Ahead

The Q3 2019 shipment figures released overnight by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) showed a marked decrease in demand for Single-engined Turbo-prop (SETP) aeroplanes, whilst piston-powered aeroplanes displayed encouraging growth.

The SETP sector, which once propped-up the flagging industry, is down 11.6% over the first three quarters of 2019 compared with the same period last year. No model in the category experienced a shipment result that was higher for the quarter than it was in 2018.

Conversely, piston-engined aircraft are up 12.3% for the same period, with Piper's Archer III and Cirrus' SR22/T continuing to show the way.

"The first nine months of 2019 show positive results for business jets and piston airplanes,“ said GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. “Turbo-props and rotorcraft, however, continued to encounter headwinds.

"Despite these mixed results, our manufacturers continue their investments in advanced factory machinery, design software, and associated processes that keep product development cycles robust and in-turn bring advances in fuel efficiency, capability, and safety to the global fleet."

Piper's Archer III continued its resurgence in the trainer market with year-to-date to the end of Q3 at 116 aircraft. By comparison, Piper delivered 72 Archers for the same period in 2018 and only 45 for the YTD 2017 match. For 2016, only 42 Archers were sold in the entire calendar year.

Diamond's DA40 sales performed well for the July-September quarter with the 38 aircraft shipped a huge improvement over the eight delivered in Q3 2018 and Cessna's C172SP holding ground in third place with 28 aircraft sold. Cirrus' SR20, however, continued to struggle in the market with only nine examples sent to customers.

With Cirrus' SR22 streets ahead in the large single market, the battle for second place was won for the quarter by the Cessna C182T, albeit 52 airframes behind the leader. Ironically, just as the new broke of Mooney International's shutdown, the company shipped four M20 Acclaim/Ovations, it's equal best result since production re-started in 2014.

Piston twin shipments were nothing to write home about, with the DA42 topping the charts with 13 aircraft delivered, slightly eclipsing Tecnam's P2006T on nine. Piper failed to move any Seneca's for the third quarter in a row.

But us was in the SETP sector that the story turned sour for GA shipment. Pilatus ubiquitous PC-12 led the way, but showed zero growth over last year in either the quarterly or the year-to-date figures. Daher's TBM 900 series also recorded flat results with Cessna's Caravan range, Quest Kodiak and Piper's M500/600 all experiencing a sales slide.

Cirrus has also cemented itself in the leadership role of the single-pilot jet sector. The 21 SF50 Visions shipped was easily the best result, with the rising Pilatus PC-24 on 11 and the Honda HA420 on eight. Traditional leaders, the Cessna M2 and Phenom 100/300 were both down for the quarter compared to 2018.

Finally, a special mention to GippsAero's Airvan 8, which recorded deliveries of five aircraft for the quarter. That represents a 400% increase over the 2018 figure and you have to look back to Q1 2017 before you'll find a better result.

 Major Shipment Figures