Where do our aeroplanes come from in the UK?

[Genghis the Engineer]

I've been putting this data together for a paper for the Royal Aeronautical Society, but thought it would be interesting to share. The basic question is, where are new aeroplanes in the UK coming from now?

I've done this in two ways, firstly by company, and secondly by country - then dropped out the top 20 companies by numbers of new aircraft, and top 10 countries by numbers of new aircraft registered in the UK. The actual total was a bit over 440 new aircraft registered in Britain in 2004, but I've not differentiated between kit .versus. manufactured, fixed versus rotary, or light versus microlight. However, I've only counted light aircraft with a single engine. I have been a little subjective in places, since quite a few aircraft are manufactured across several countries- in which case I've use my best judgement about where most of the work is done. This is also only by airframe numbers, not value.

I must admit some of the results surprised me slightly.

G


Top 20 companies

1. P&M Aviation (formerly Pegasus and Mainair), UK, 72 aircraft
2. Robinson, USA, 62 aircraft
3. Skyranger, France, 46 aircraft
4. Eurostar, Czech republic, 32 aircraft
5. Vans, USA, 31 aircraft
6= Ikarus, Germany, 21 aircraft
6= Zenair, Czech Republic, 21 aircraft
8. Europa, UK, 19 aircraft
9. Raj Hamsa, India, 15 aircraft
10. Jabiru, Australia, 13 aircraft
11= Reality aircraft, UK, 12 aircraft
11= Thruster Air Services, UK, 12 aircraft
13, Dyn Aero, France, 10 aircraft
14. Rans, USA, 9 aircraft
15. Air Creation, France, 8 aircraft
16= Cessna, USA, 5 aircraft
16= Rotorway, USA, 5 aircraft
18= Piper, USA, 4 aircraft
18= ICP, Italy, 4 aircraft
18= Tecnam, Italy, 4 aircraft


Top 10 supplying countries to the UK
1. USA, 134 aircraft
2. UK, 107 aircraft
3. France, 68 aircraft
4. Czech Republic, 53 aircraft
5. Germany, 26 aircraft
6= India, 15 aircraft
6= Australia, 15 aircraft
8. Italy, 11 aircraft
9. Canada, 5 aircraft
10. Ukraine, 4 aircraft.

[IO540]

Fascinating figures GTE.

A pity that one can't (without a lot of digging around plane spotter websites) get some N-reg figures. I reckon that as one moves upmarket, more than 50% and probably closer to 100% in some cases go N-reg right away. This is readily apparent from the absence of some names.

5 Cessnas and 4 Pipers really speaks volumes...

[Algirdas]

Really interesting percentages, Ghengis:
As some of the manufacturers listed supply both microlight and SEP planes, it's a bit hard to tell the mix of these, but for arguments' sake, if you call those that are in doubt microlights or kits, and bundle these planes together you get a whopping 81% of the total, helis 17% and SEP only 2%....
I suspect we are seeing the almost total replacement of traditional recreational SEP planes by micros and kits.
The upside is that more pilots will be having more fun for less dinari.

:O

[helicopter-redeye]

The Robinson figures look 'light' compared to the number that have been imported recently, but I hav'nt the patience to go through G-INFO to prove myself wrong.

At the same time, the basic sales message for the new R44s is buy, run and sell (like the car market) so some of this is about product placement strategies.

At the same time, what is a 'new' Robinson. The 12 year/ 2200hr rebuild means that there are 'new' (zero timed) machines cycling within the UK market all the time as well.

h-r

[IO540]

A LOT of helicopters go N-reg. I would guess a much larger percentage than fixed wing.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I was reliant upon the data fields in the G-INFO data set, so it's aircraft with first registration, and manufacturing dates in 2004 - it won't show any imported second hand aeroplanes (of any flavour).

G

[surely not]

I was surprised that Diamond didn't figure at all. There seem to be quite a few on the register, are they all pre-owned?

[Genghis the Engineer]

Only a couple shown new in 2004.

G

[bingoboy]

Thought that the Reality a/c came in reality from the USA and most SkyRanger kits come Czech Rep.

Otherwise quite impressed with the quantity P+M put out.

The figures seem to suggest that new sales are more price than performance driven.

[Genghis the Engineer]

That was a bit of mild guesswork on my part. Much of the Skyranger "big bits" manufacturing is actually done in the Ukraine, but the design and so far as I know kit preparation and some of the manufacture is done in France, so I put it down as French.

Reality I know do a great deal of preparation, and virtually all of the design in the UK, and are also in the process of bringing most of the production now done in the USA to Britain. So, I put them down as British.

Arguably you could put both down as 50/50; so far as my league table is concerned the only real effect would be to move the Ukraine up a couple of places and France down a couple so that both would sit roughly between Germany and Cz.

No such thing as exact science is there :O

G

[skydriller]

Interesting stats Gengis,

Would like to see the split of Aeroplanes to Microlights though...as it looks on the surface like alot of aircraft would fall into microlight category, and that should be telling us something.

Regards, SD..

[Mariner9]

How come the Alpi Pioneer 300 (Italian group A kit) was excluded from your list GTE?

G-INFO shows 6 were 'manufactured' in 2004. (Although the list includes mine, which wont be completed for another couple of months or so)

[cubflyer]

Gengis,
interesting stats and about what I would expect. Its slightly misleading in that with homebuilt/kitbuilt aircraft some people might register their kit when they order it, others not until it is finished, 6 months or maybe 10 years down the line. But I guess without going through all the PFA and BMAA new project registrations, this is the best data you have.
It is true that there are some new aircraft imported on N reg, such as quite a few Cirrus, but there are not that many other new GA singles brought in, most of the N reg Pipers and Cessnas that have been imported are second hand, a few new PA32s though.
There have been a few more new DA40Tdis delivered in 2004, but most were registered in 2003! 2003 also saw a lot more deliveries.
The Robinson number seems about right to me. There are almost no Robinsons in the UK on the N register and actually only a small percentage of helicopters are on the N reg, mostly A109s and MD600s. Surprised though that Eurocopter dont have more than 4 new helicopters delivered in 2004.

Homebuilts,Kitplanes and microlights are clearly taking over from the factory built aircraft. Not surprising really as they are more fun, have better performance and are cheaper to run.

[Genghis the Engineer]

First on the DA, I've double checked and there are two DA factories, one in Canada and one in Austria. There were three from each came into the UK - so as a company arguably they actually come in just above Cessna. A slight weakness in my analysis perhaps.

I don't think Eurocopter are delivering many singles.

The stats showed three Alpi Pioneers registered and built in 2004.

It's also possible that my stats missed aircraft registered in December that hadn't caught up into the database I was using.

Doesn't change the overall picture however.

G