In comments to employees, customers and suppliers, Cirrus
President and CEO Brent Wouters (pictured) said Wednesday the
company is seeing signs of a strengthening market for aircraft
sales. He noted that a number of key business measurements suggest
stronger performance in 2010 than previously anticipated.
"We are seeing solid signs that suggest this year could be
better - potentially much better - than many are thinking," Wouters
said. "Our first-quarter sales are on pace with the results for the
first quarter of 2008, a year where we delivered 550 new airplanes.
When you couple that level of sales performance with a greatly
improved business that - because of our successful restructuring -
has cut our breakeven point to less than half its 2008 level, 2010
is on track to be much better than expected. We're pleased with the
momentum we're seeing on the sales side, particularly in
institutional sales where our focus has already begun to show
results such as the 16-airplane order for flight training at Purdue
University. We see many more new fleet opportunities on the
horizon."
"The credit for this improved outlook goes to our employees, our
suppliers and all our partners who are helping us find success by
making deliberate and significant progress in every area of the
enterprise. While much work remains to be done, by pulling
together, the Cirrus community is overcoming the economic headwinds
and helping us quickly and quietly grow a very strong company."
Among the other encouraging signs for Cirrus:
In the first quarter of 2010, aircraft deliveries are trending
well above the same period for 2009 and on par with 2008. Nearly 30
new customer aircraft are scheduled to be delivered in March 2010
alone.
March 2010 deliveries included the first two aircraft of 16
total for flight training at Purdue University's Department of
Aviation Technology, with remaining deliveries to take place in the
second and third quarters of 2010.
Cirrus has more orders confirmed for both April and May of this
year than the company had for the same period in either of the past
two years.
Cirrus Certified, the pre-owned aircraft division at Cirrus, is
also seeing sales return to 2008 levels. Used Cirrus aircraft
prices are showing the strongest signs of stabilization in 24
months.
Increased global expansion in 2009 is paying significant
dividends for Cirrus in 2010 as economies around the world recover
at different rates. Year-to-date, total new aircraft deliveries are
evenly split between the U.S. and export markets.
In January and February, the company received more than 25 new
production reservations for its Cirrus Vision personal jet.
Business restructuring milestones include reducing inventory by
more than 75%, reducing long-term liabilities by more than 20% and
reducing annual fixed costs by over 50%.
The company continues to innovate in its marketing efforts with
a new global partnership with Red Bull Air Race, one of the most
dynamic and well-known aviation-related brands in the world.
Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI) capability and further
enhancements to Cirrus Perspective By Garmin avionics in 2009
helped the SR22 grow its market share to more than 60%.
Again in 2009 - the 7th year in a row - the Cirrus SR22 is the
world's best-selling 4-place airplane.
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