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Aviation History
1982
1982 - 1217.PDF
represent the greatest single number of Fortune 1,000 aircraft operators at 61 (60 per cent of the companies in that category). Second are food pro cessors, which number 53. The top percentage of aircraft users in any group is 82 per cent, in the aerospace industrial classification, where 14 of the 17 companies fly corporate air craft. Of the 1,000 Fortune companies, 8-8 per cent are in food processing; they represent almost a tenth of the 541 operators, but less than 7 per cent of the fleet. Petroleum refiners account for 5-2 per cent of the 1,000 com panies (7 0 per cent of the operators, and 17-2 per cent of the fleet). Manufacturers of industrial and farm equipment represent the greatest number of operators—11-3 per cent—(0-7 per cent of the Fortune 1,000 business-aircraft fleet). Some 188 of the 541 operating companies (nearly 35 per cent) operate only one aircraft. Eight companies operate 19 or more aircraft, the largest 1980 fleet being 38. In sales, the leading SIC category among non-operators in the Fortune list is food processing with $23,600 million in 1980. But these are soundly outweighed by those that do use air craft: they sold $115,400 million worth. The outright leader in sales firms which do not fly aircraft bettered their comrades by 45 per cent, a very rare exception to the principle. Aircraft-operating companies aver aged $5,244 net income/employee—51 per cent better than non-operating companies. In petroleum refining alone, the difference is described by NBAA as astounding. Companies employing aircraft paid an average net income more than five times that of non-operating firms. Although it is one thing, says NBAA, to look at the Fortune 1,000 fleet in terms of unit growth by category of aircraft, it is much more revealing to examine the areas of growth and decline. Plotting cate gories as percentages of the total fleet during 1971-1980 is quite reveal ing. In 1971 the medium jet had just taken the lead from the light turbo prop with 263 units (10 1 per cent of the fleet), and has seen ten years' positive growth with 604 units and 30 per cent of the total fleet in 1980. This is equivalent to an annual fleet growth of 9-7 per cent. This category has been the most popular in the fleet for the past ten years. In 1980 more than 600 Sabre- liners, Falcons, Citation II/IIIs, Lear- jet 23/24/25/35/55S, HS.125s, Jet Commanders, Westwinds, and Dia- These figures represent their status against a growing fleet. For example, the heavy jets grew 7-3 per cent, from 233 to 250 units. But the total fleet grew 9-2 per cent (1,842 to 2,012), a decline in real terms. The huge growth of the medium jet means that some categories which are making modest gains in the Fortune 1,000 industrial usage actually appear to be losing ground. It is also interesting to note, says NBAA, the rates of growth over the most recent year. Trends to eliminate the piston helicopter are apparent: they register the biggest 1980 loss— almost 39 per cent in comparison with the whole fleet. This is even more amazing in that they had the largest gain in 1979, with a 28 per cent growth. This may not be too great a change, as the fleet size (8) is very- small, and therefore any change seems enormous. Other losers are the light jet (down 9-5 per cent), heavy turboprops and pressurised piston twins (each down 8-5), light piston twins (a 1-9 per cent fall), and heavy piston twins (down 1-15 per cent). Heavy turboprops and pressurised piston twins each experienced zero growth in fleet size in 1980 over the previous year. The —8-5 figure indi cates the growth experienced by the entire fleet over the previous year. FORTUNE 1,000 PERFORMANCE COMPARISON Operators Non-operators Companies Employees Net sales Assets Stockholders' equity Net income Net income as per cent of sales Net income as per cent of stock equity Sales/employee Net income/ emnlovee 541 14,700,000 $1,550 billion $1,112 billion $511 billion $77 billion 5 0 15-1 $105,525 $5,244 459 2,900,000 $220 billion $150 billion $73 billion $10 billion 4-6 13-9 $75,376 $3,475 itiftill Use of aircraft is not the only measure of success in business, says the NBAA. Those companies that do operate aircraft do far better than those that don't, by whatever standard of measurement. was petroleum refiners, with $513,700 million (of which aircraft operators— 73 per cent of the companies— captured $498,200 million, 97 per cent of the total). This same pattern holds true for corporate assets, net income and stockholders' equity. Fortune companies operating air craft completely outpaced non-operat ing companies in total employment during 1980: 13,700,000 versus 2,900,000 (83-5 per cent of the total). The 1980 recession saw the 1,000 in dustrials' employment fall 31 per cent. Employment dropped 1-3 per cent in the aircraft-operating block, but more than four times that figure —an alarming 5-7 per cent—among non-operating companies. Statistics show that the average sales for aircraft-operating companies were worth $105,525 per employee, 40 per cent better than for companies without aircraft. Employees in mining and crude-oil production companies that use aircraft outperformed their colleagues in other companies by 145 per cent, according to NBAA. But employees of jewellery and silverware FLIGHT International, 8 May 1982 monds were to be found in the 2,000- aircraft fleet. The light turboprop has hovered around 19 per cent for the last ten years, due primarily to the "fantastic" growth of the Beech King Air, says NBAA. Use of the King Air has grown at an annual rate of 6 per cent since 1971, and accounted for the most growth of any aircraft in 1980. The King Air series accounts for 63 • 1 per cent of the light-turboprop market and stability of the turboprop market is primarily due, says NBAA, to the extremely good sales of this aircraft. This category has grown at 5-4 per cent, but has increased its proportion of the total Fortune 1,000 fleet by only 0-8 percentage points over the last ten years. Other growth areas during 1980 in clude the single-engine piston aircraft (up 0-3 points to 80 per cent of the total fleet value), pressurised piston twins (up 0-2 to 3-2 per cent), and the twin-turbine helicopter (up 0-3 points to 1-9 per cent). All others lost way or just held their own during 1980. Fifty-one Dassault-Breguet Falcon 50s hove been sold to North American customers The biggest expansion in 1980 was among twin-turbine helicopters, with 9 -3 per cent growth. Second came the pressurised piston twins (up 6-26), above turbine helicopters (a growth of 5-52), which were followed by the medium jets (4-53). The single-engine group grew 3-89 per cent. These trends are basically consist ent throughout the period, NBAA judges. As such, they are reflected in the single-year results for 1980, during which turbine helicopters and medium jets outpaced the total fleet growth. Piston growth appears to be largely dependent on escalating fuel prices. There seems to be a lag of one to three years between stabilising fuel prices and growth in the area, says NBAA. This depends on aircraft size and fuel consumption. Aircraft sales to the 541 Fortune operators were worth $385 million to business aircraft manufacturers dur ing 1980—a record. Total fleet value rose to almost $3,210 million, 82 per 1155
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