In February, GAMA gathered the media for our “State of the Industry” press conference at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. It’s our annual opportunity to reflect on the year that just ended and to think ahead to some of the big policy issues coming up in the next 12 months.

Overall, we found that 2015 presented some financial challenges for our industry, largely due to headwinds facing the oil and gas sector, as well as economic and political issues in Brazil, China, Europe, and Russia. As a result, total shipments for airplanes were down 4.6 percent, with a 4 percent drop in billings from 2014. Rotorcraft shipments slipped 4.4 percent, and billings dipped 21.9 percent compared to the previous year.

U.S. Gaining Strength

Let’s look at the numbers by category. Piston airplane shipments dropped 6.5 percent and turboprop shipments fell 7.6 percent, while business jet shipments were down 0.6 percent. Business jets were buoyed by the introduction of some new models in 2015 — specifically, the Embraer Legacy 450 and 500, the HA-420 HondaJet, and the Textron CE-680A Citation Latitude — which is helping the mid-size segment. Piston rotorcraft shipments increased 8.6 percent, while turbine shipments decreased 8.9 percent.*

Dig deeper into the numbers, and you’ll notice that the United States is gaining strength in the overall GA market. For example, North America accounted for two-thirds of piston airplane sales, while the rest of the world declined. This is a reverse of what took place immediately following the Great Recession — when emerging markets were responsible for a bigger percentage of airplane sales and U.S. sales fell — reflecting the relative strength of the U.S. recovery.

Although we won’t make economic predictions for 2016, we will be busy working on policy issues that continue to improve GA safety and promote an environment that supports innovation as we work with policymakers and regulators across the globe. Two key efforts are underway right now in Washington and Brussels.

FAA and EASA

Since the last FAA reauthorization bill in 2012, transportation leaders in the U.S. Congress have held listening sessions and hearings, and conducted other outreach to improve the FAA. The proposal introduced in February by U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and U.S. House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) emphasizes the need to streamline the certification process and improve consistency in regulatory interpretation, both of which we believe are necessary. But the proposal also contains some significant changes to the governance and management of the nation’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. We have serious questions and concerns about the costs general aviation will pay under this proposal but, just as importantly, our access to and operations in the ATC system. We look forward to working with members of Congress, the relevant committees, and all stakeholders to answer these questions and protect GAMA’s interests in a final bill.

Across the Atlantic, in December, the European Commission issued a major legislative proposal to revise the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) Basic Regulation, making the regulatory environment for general aviation more proportionate by facilitating a risk-based approach to rulemaking and simplifying airworthiness procedures. We’ll continue to work on this effort during the two-year adoption process.

At the start of 2016, our industry is both mature and strong. A lot of people want to buy the aircraft that our companies are making or to update and modify older models with newer technology. Each day, employees of GA manufacturers, as well as our maintenance, repair and overhaul centers are working hard to develop new, safety-enhancing products and technologies. And GAMA’s staff is working tirelessly to make it easier for them to get those products to market. That’s one thing that won’t change in 2016.

Pete Bunce is president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

*Finmeccanica Helicopters Q4 data is not available at the time of publication. Finmeccanica Helicopters will release year-end results on March 16, 2016. GAMA will update the report then.