Industry Total Avionics Sales Amount To Nearly $6.3 Billion

AEA president  Paula Derks welcomed attendees to the associations'  56th annual International Convention & Trade Show at the MGM Grand Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV, Tuesday morning with the theme for the year ... "Let's Get To Work" ... during the opening general session Tuesday morning. And then, Derks got to work, introducing the association's first Avionics Market Report.

During the past year, the AEA formed an ad hoc committee comprised of representatives of avionics manufacturers to solicit input on a new benefit for the AEA membership and general aviation industry: the AEA Avionics Market Report.

This announcement marks the first phase of the report, which includes one total number: the collective sales figure – both forward-fit and retrofit – for year-end 2012 sales, as received from participating manufacturers. The report will eventually expand and become a quarterly report. In 2014, the report will be enhanced to include dividing the numbers into domestic and international sales, fixed-wing versus rotorcraft, airplane categories and subscription sales. To date, 19 aviation electronics manufacturers have committed to participate in the report. Additional manufacturers will continue to be invited to contribute sales data. The total year-end 2012 avionics sales as represented by the 19 manufacturers was $6,279,317,197.54. The amount (using net sales price, not manufacturer’s suggested retail price) includes: all aircraft electronic sales – including all component and accessories in cockpit/cabin/software upgrades/portables/noncertified aircraft electronics; all hardware (tip to tail); batteries; and chargeable product upgrades from 19 participating manufacturers. The amount does not include repairs and overhauls, extended warranty or subscription services.

The second phase of the report will expand further to report not only the dollar amount of sales, but both certified and noncertified aircraft electronics units sold.  “Never before has there been a true capture of the dollar size of the general aviation electronics market,” Derks said. “Not only will this report be useful to our membership in strategic planning and examining market share, but it will be valuable information to promote our industry to the aviation community, investors, and most importantly, when informing our elected officials of the value of the industry to the global economy.” To ensure confidentiality, the participating manufacturing companies submitted their overall sales figure for 2012 to an independent third-party accounting firm retained to produce the AEA Avionics Market Report. Additional manufacturers will be encouraged to participate as the report continues to grow.

The 19 participating companies in the initial report included:

• Accord Technology
• Aerosonic Corp.
• Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp.
• Aspen Avionics
• Bendix/King
• Cobham (Mineral Wells)
• Cool City Avionics
• FreeFlight Systems
• Garmin
• Honeywell Business & General Aviation
• ICG
• Jupiter Avionics
• Latitude Technologies
• Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics
• Rockwell Collins
• Sandia Aerospace
• Shadin
• Trig Avionics
• Universal Avionics Systems Corp.

FMI: www.aea.net