May 20--After several years of low shipments, Cirrus Aircraft is bouncing back.
Plane shipments for the Duluth-based manufacturer were up 13 percent during the first quarter. That's more than the 5 percent increase seen worldwide in its category of small, single-engine piston planes, according to the latest General Aviation Manufacturers Association shipment reports.
The increase in shipments -- the preferred industry term for sales -- helped boost Cirrus' market share lead to 35 percent, ahead of competing Cessna, Diamond and Piper planes.
Cirrus shipped 54 of its SR-20, SR-22 and SR-22T four-seat personal planes in the first quarter, nine more than in 2012. Billings were up a whopping 30 percent as Cirrus sold more fully loaded planes and more of its premium offering, the SR-22T.
"We are having a great start to the year," CEO Dale Klapmeier said. "We are having the biggest backlog of orders in nearly a decade."
He said he's confident those numbers will continue to beat last year's and end up bettering the 253 planes Cirrus shipped in 2012.
The latest industry numbers also were good news for Kestrel Aircraft, which plans to build its Kestrel K-350 single-engine turboprop in Superior. Founder Alan Klapmeier is Dale Klapmeier's brother. The two founded Cirrus in the 1980s but Alan left the company in 2009.
As he founded a new company, Alan Klapmeier chose to develop a single-engine turboprop as a more efficient substitute for the business jet. It was a category that was growing while many other plane categories were declining during the economic recession.
Since then, business jet shipments have slowed, while turboprops jumped 10 percent in 2012. In the first quarter of 2013, shipments of single-engine turboprops -- Kestrel's future category -- increased nearly 15 percent over the first quarter of 2012.
Edward Underwood, Kestrel's chief financial officer, said they're pleased with those numbers.
"We had perceived that segment of the market to be more stable," he said. "We see it recovering as good or better than the other market segments in the industry."
At Cirrus, annual shipments had risen dramatically from 95 in 2000 to a high of 721 in 2006. But the recession hit the general aviation industry hard, and Cirrus shipments plummeted, leveling at about 255 in 2011 and 2012.
Cirrus weathered the downturn by cost cutting, becoming more efficient, pursuing fleet sales and reaching out to international markets.
Its efforts to expand its overseas markets have been successful. Cirrus' annual overseas shipments have grown from 25 percent a few years ago to 44 percent last year, Dale Klapmeier said, noting that Cirrus planes are shipped to South America, Europe, South Africa, Asia and Australia.
"Europe is our biggest region, Brazil is our biggest country," he said.
At the same time, the development of the Cirrus Vision Jet, a new light personal jet, is moving forward toward its targeted 2015 delivery date. And that means Cirrus is hiring a lot of new employees, with 65 openings for engineers, technicians, designers and others. Most are with the jet development program in Duluth.
"We're seeing a tremendous amount of growth activity," he said.
Copyright 2013 - Duluth News Tribune
