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OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. CIVIL AVIATION MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 19 TABLE 1-1 Civil Aircraft Shipments, 1968â1982 (millions of dollars) Year Total Transport Aircraft Helicopters General Aviation 1968 4,267 3,789 57 421 1969 3,598 2,939 75 584 1970 3,546 3,158 49 339 1971 2,984 2,594 69 321 1972 3,308 2,660 90 558 1973 4,665 3,718 121 826 1974 5,091 3,993 189 909 1975 5,086 3,779 274 1,033 1976 4,592 3,078 285 1,229 1977 4,451 2,649 251 1,551 1978 6,458 4,308 328 1,822 1979 10,644 8,030 403 2,211 1980 13,058 9,895 656 2,507 1981 13,223 9,706 597 2,920 1982 8,610 6,246 365 1,999 SOURCE: Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc., Aerospace Facts and Figures, 1983/1984, p. 34. THE INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO THE ECONOMY The civil aviation manufacturing industry is a major component of the aerospace industry, which in turn is one of our largest and most technology- intensive industries. R&D expenditures, including both company and government funds, for aerospace (the only segment for which the National Science Foundation provides R&D to sales data), represent 15.4 percent of sales compared with 3.3 percent for all manufacturing. Shipments of large transports, helicopters, and general aviation aircraft are shown in Table 1-1. The variability of output for a major capital expenditure such as aircraft is reflected in the figures. Even within manufactured durable goods, commercial sales of aircraft (including exports of military aircraft) vary from just over I percent to more than 2 percent (Table 1-2). Although transport aircraft represent the dominant factor in the industry, sales of helicopters and general aviation have been growing more rapidly, as also shown in Table 1-1. The industry is an important source of employment for both skilled production workers and for highly trained scientists and engineers, who represent 16 percent of the work force (Table 1-3). Again, the highly cyclical nature of the industry is reflected in the wide swings in employment. The employment data in Table 1-3 are conservative in that they include only estimates of aero
OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. CIVIL AVIATION MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 20 space-related employment in communications, instruments, and selected other industries at the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) level. Data on the massive 15,000-firm infrastructure that supports the industry are unobtainable. TABLE 1-2 Comparison of Civil Aircraft with Gross National Product, 1970â1982, and Manufactured Durable Goods Billions of Dollars Year GNP All Durable Civil Percent of Manufacturing Goods Aircraft Durable (millions of Goods dollars) 1970 992.7 633.7 338.6 5,880 1.74 1971 1,077.6 671.1 359.7 5,079 1.40 1972 1,185.9 756.5 408.5 5,199 1.27 1973 1,326.4 875.4 476.4 6,739 1.41 1974 1,434.2 1,017.9 531.0 7,560 1.42 1975 1,549.2 1,039.4 524.1 7,797 1.48 1976 1,718.0 1,185.7 608.4 7,622 1.25 1977 1,918.0 1,330.1 696.1 7,530 1.08 1978 2,163.9 1,496.6 798.1 10,581 1.32 1979 2,417.8 1,727.3 909.6 16,023 1.76 1980 2,633.1 1,845.9 936.0 20,097 2.15 1981 2,937.7 1,994.6 1,001.0 21,527 2.15 1982 3,059.3 1,886.0 918.2 17,338 1.88 SOURCE: Survey of Current Business, U.S. Department of Commerce, Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc., Aerospace Facts and Figures, 1983/1984, p. 30. Foreign sales are increasingly important to the industry, representing approximately 60 percent of large transport sales, 50 percent of rotorcraft, and 25 percent of general aviation. U.S. exports of large transports represent approximately two-thirds of total sales in the rest of the world. Civil aircraft play a major role in foreign trade, representing 4.2 percent to 7.1 percent of total merchandise exports since 1970 (Table 1-4)âhighest of all export categories. Although the percentages vary, they seem to represent a relatively stable portion of the total. Even though imports of aircraft appear to have escalated dramatically in 1981â82, they are modest compared with exports (Tables 1-5a and 1-5b). Figure 1-1 shows the growth of imports since 1970 for large transports, helicopters, and general aviation aircraft. The increase in imports is troublesome, but year-to-year variations can be large and no conclusions can yet be drawn about trends with respect to large transports. The situation in helicopters and general aviation is quite different. As can be seen in Table 1-5a, penetration of imports is escalating rapidly. Exports of transports are a major part of total aircraft exports. The great importance of the extensive fleet of U.S.-built aircraft operated by foreign airlines is reflected in the large sales of aircraft and engine parts (Table 1-5b).
