According to the General Aviation Manufacturer Association’s Q3/16 update on shipment and billing data, general aviation airplane shipments declined 3.5%, from the same period last year, with 1,504 units shipped in the first nine months of 2016 compared to 1,558 units in 2015.

Rotorcraft shipments declined 16% to 615 units compared to 732 units in the same period last year. Combined airplane and rotorcraft billings were $15.9 billion year-to-date in 2016 compared to last year’s $19.1 billion, a contraction of 16.5%.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat the fact that these numbers are not what we had wanted to see,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA president and CEO. “Unfortunately, they reflect the instability of the used aircraft market coupled with complicating global economic and geopolitical factors. What is encouraging is that every GAMA airplane and rotorcraft manufacturer has a new product development program recently completed or currently underway, so optimism for the future runs high.”

Turboprop airplane shipments generated a bright spot in the deliveries with 379 shipments, up 1.3% from 2015. Piston airplane deliveries declined from 719 units to 696 units. In addition, business jets slipped 7.7% from 465 units in 2015 to 429 units this year. Piston rotorcraft fell 17.6% to 168 units shipped. A total of 447 turbine rotorcraft were shipped, a reduction of 15.3% versus the same period in 2015.