H125 leads the way with 81 examples delivered so far this year
The General Aviation Manufacturers’ Association (GAMA) has posted its third-quarter new aircraft deliveries and billings report, which shows an 8.5% year-on-year growth for the year to date, with a total of 627 helicopters delivered in the first nine months of 2023. It’s worth noting that in cash terms, billings for the year rose by 5.4%, indicating a pivot towards smaller aircraft taking a larger share of the deliveries. Indeed, the battle for the most aircraft delivered remains a struggle between the R66 and H125, with the latter edging ahead 81 to 80 with the R44 Raven II posting 72 (although if all variants of the R44 are taken together, the landscape changes quite dramatically with 124 helicopters delivered).
Also worthy of note is the slowing of deliveries in the third quarter compared with the first two quarters, which saw 176 aircraft delivered in Q3 compared with 209 in Q1 and 242 in Q2. Of course, this may result from a seasonal variation thanks to the northern hemisphere summer holiday period dominating Q3 and the tradition of “les grandes vacances” still holding sway in France, Italy and Quebec! It will be interesting to see if there is a rebound in Q4 delivery rates or if the slowdown reflects the current slowing in orders reported by the large OEMs in recent weeks when results for the full year are posted just before Heli Expo.
