Last week, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association released its delivery report for the first half of the year. The numbers reflect the health of the industry—and it’s good—and show improvement in both total units and total value, when compared to the first half of 2025. But, as usual, the details tell a bit more than a geometric increase, with inflation, tariffs, and changes to the mix of piston, turboprop, and turbine aircraft calling my attention. Note that GAMA estimates the total billings based on publicly available information—the OEMs don’t release that information.
Pistons Descend a Bit
With the segment going minus 3.1% overall in units delivered, pistons accounted for fewer units in the total aircraft deliveries. That explains in part why the overall GA billings figure could rise dramatically, though 25 fewer piston airplanes flew out of the production lines. Piston leader Cirrus Aircraft accounted for more than 40% of the deliveries through the end of June, with 348 of the SR series sold.
Textron ran second in the piston parade with 177 units (including two deliveries of the Velis Electro), with 2026 being the first year those Pipistrel numbers were included in TextAv’s totals. Following the leader, Tecnam had a healthy semester at 96 units, Piper delivering trainers galore at 93 units, Diamond Aircraft clocking in at 72 units, and CubCrafters pushing through a couple of great quarters at 42 units.
Turboprops and Jets Tick Up
Turboprops (single and multi) together moved up in deliveries by 7.8%, and jets rose by 8.2%, making sense for the overall billings figure (+15.5%) to increase more than the units—672 in 2026 vs 622 in 2025 for turboprops and turbines combined—would otherwise indicate.
Textron Aviation topped the turboprop list with 36 Caravans, 15 King Air 260s, 11 King Air 350 ERs, and 17 SkyCouriers, for a total of 79 units. Pilatus delivered 43 PC-12s in the half, and Daher was on track at 37 units total—27 TBM 980s and one 960, plus five Kodiak 100s and four 900s. Piper had three M600/SLSs and 19 M700 Furies out the door, and Epic delivered 15 of the E1000AXs.
In turbine segments, Gulfstream caught up quite a bit on G700 and G800 deliveries (though they don’t break these totals down by model) with 66 units delivering, including the G500 and G600. G280s were reported separately at 13 units, bringing the total to 79, and estimated total billings to $5.189B for the Savannah-based manufacturer. Textron Aviation came close with 77 total units across Citations from the M2 to the Longitude. Embraer sent out a mix of Phenom 100EXs and 300Es, and Praetor 500s and 600s to total 76 units. Bombardier just trailed this trio in units at 56, but had a little more than half the billings of Gulfstream, at $2.783B.
On the flip side, Cirrus led the very light segment with 57 Vision Jets, and Pilatus delivered 18 PC-24s as well. Dassault only reports every six months to GAMA, so its numbers are included here, with the 6X/8X/2000XLS combined for 13 units, as it still plays catch up. Also catching up, Honda Aircraft Company, with just 5 deliveries of the HA-420.
Helicopters Bump Up Too
Let’s not forget our whirly-minded friends: The first half of 2026 saw a rise of 5.8% in piston helicopter shipments, plus an increase of 3.3% year-over-year in turbine rotorcraft units, combined to increase billings in the segment from $2B to $2.2B.
And a special shout out to Air Tractor, which celebrated the delivery of its 5,000th aircraft at the end of May, helping to meet its tally of 82 units for the first half of the year—a mix of purpose-built aerial application, firefighting, and military surveillance designs. We know the AT-802F has been called to duty far too often as of late over our skies, helping mitigate the wildfires all too commonplace these days.
Remembering 9/11
Speaking of public benefit flying, and those who have served, we mark a somber anniversary Friday with the 25th year since the attacks of September 11, 2001. No one among us who was over the age of 4 or 5, perhaps, will ever forget where we were that day, and the fallout from it.
I was at work for AOPA Publications on that Tuesday morning, and I’ll always recall the strength with which the general aviation community responded to the calls to duty, and the consequences of such a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Last summer, for the first time, I was able to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial, near Somerset, Pennsylvania, where the crew of that United flight and all passengers on board met their end. I thought I knew the story, but being there in that field drove home the heroism of those who were able to act in the face of unimaginable horror. If you find yourself anywhere near it, please take the time. We will never forget.
