Bombardier Bullish On Long-Term Bizjet Market

Despite the sharp economic downturn in 2009, Bombardier Aerospace believes business aircraft manufacturers will still deliver some 75 percent more aircraft in the next 10 years than they did in the previous 10-year period. Bombardier, which released its Business Aircraft Market Forecast during last week's Paris Air Show, predicted a market for 11,500 aircraft that will generate $256 billion in revenue from 2009-2018. This compares with 6,500 business aircraft valued at $122 billion delivered between 1999 and 2008, Bombardier said.

Bombardier noted that its forecast is tempered by the current economy. "The sharp contraction of the U.S. economy and ensuing worldwide recession during 2008-2009 is expected to cause a significant reduction in the near-term demand for business jets," the company said, projecting plane-makers will continue to record "negative" orders in 2009 with a significant number of cancellations.

Order intake is expected to dip to a low of 375 units in 2009, but eventually grow to 1,400 units per year by 2013, the company said. Orders reached a record 1,800 in 2007, and manufacturers were on a strong pace in the first half of 2008, with orders for 1,375 more aircraft.

"However, in the second half of the year, the economic downturn led to an abrupt drop in orders and a significant number of cancellations," Bombardier said, noting the light aircraft category was most affected. Industry backlog began to decline from the peak of $77.