Textron Aviation to sit out NBAA show next month as strike disrupts production

Textron Aviation has decided not to exhibit at the NBAA business aviation trade show in Las Vegas next month, a move coming as the company’s operations remain hobbled by an ongoing machinists’ strike.

The decision also comes as a blow to the business aviation sector’s largest annual exhibition, which has recently lost other major aircraft manufacturers as exhibitors.

Textron Aviation, which owns the Cessna and Beechcraft brands, confirmed on 25 September that it had backed out of the NBAA show, scheduled for 22-24 October at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Textron Aviation and Tru Simulation… will not participate as exhibitors at the 2024 National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition,” Textron says, citing the need to “maintain our business operations during this time”.

It does not explicitly attribute its decision to the strike, which has been ongoing since 23 September, and did not respond to a request for more information from FlightGlobal.

“We appreciate our long-standing involvement with industry events that bring together customers and the general aviation community,” Textron Aviation adds.

The aircraft maker and Tru Simulation are both subsidiaries of parent company Textron.

NBAA confirms the news. “We have been informed by company leadership that their focus on business operations will preclude their participation in NBAA-BACE this year. We respect their decision and look forward to welcoming their return to future NBAA events,” the association says.

Textron Aviation faces trouble at home in Wichita, where members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerosapce Workers District 70 are on strike. The union’s roughly 5,000 members account for half of Textron Aviation’s 10,000 employees in Wichita, where the company assembles Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft.

The walkout is affecting Textron Aviation’s manufacturing, service facilities and parts and distribution services in Wichita, parent Textron said in a securities filing made public on 24 September.

“Over time, the strike has the potential to have an adverse impact on the company’s ability to meet its production and delivery schedules, and therefore could have an adverse effect on [Textron’s] financial results,” it adds.

The strike comes as Textron Aviation has been working to overcome supply chain problems that had already hindered its aircraft production and deliveries.

During Textron’s most recent earnings call in July, chief executive Scott Donnelly said of the aviation business: “There are still parts that are from suppliers that continue to give us some heartache, with late deliveries… We are a bit behind where we would like to be on a couple of these models”.

Textron Aviation delivered 58 aircraft in the second quarter, down from 77 in the same period of 2023.

Several large aircraft makers have in recent years sat out NBAA’s annual October convention and the spring EBACE business aviation exhibition in Geneva.

Gulfstream will not be attending NBAA this year. It has for several years been absent from both the NBAA and EBACE events, having said its marketing dollars can be better spent elsewhere. 

French rival Dassault Aviation, meanwhile, did not respond to a request for comment about its NBAA participation plans this year, though the show’s website does not list the company as an exhibitor.

Airbus Corporate Jets, Boeing Business Jets, Bombardier, Cirrus, Daher Aircraft, Embraer, Honda Aircraft, Pilatus, Piper Aircraft and Tecnam will still be displaying aircraft at this year’s show, says NBAA.

“NBAA is looking forward to a highly successful show, with a nearly sold out exhibit floor featuring the world’s leading aviation companies… as well as a wide variety of business aircraft on display,” it adds.

Bombardier skipped this year’s EBACE show in May, also attributing the move to a shift in its marketing strategy.