Newsroom

Statistical Highlights

Sales:
Total aerospace sales were $204.4 billion in 2008, hitting a record for the fifth straight year.

Sales:
Robust growth is primarily due to a leap in civil aviation of historic proportions, coinciding with steady growth in engine, UAV and missile production.

Profit:
Preliminary numbers show industry profits reached $20.9 billion in 2008.

Foreign trade balance:
The total for 2008 was $57 billion. Exports totaled $95 billion and imports $38 billion. The aerospace industry's $57 billion trade surplus represents the largest positive trade balance of any U.S. manufacturing industry.

Foreign markets:
Japan remains our industry's largest foreign market, buying over $8 billion of aerospace products in 2008. France, Singapore, the U.K. and Canada were also among the top 5 aerospace export markets in the first half of 2008.

Employment:
Aerospace employment continued to increase in 2008, showing an increase of 10,300 workers to 657,100.

Shipments, orders, backlog:
On pace to see unprecedented levels in aircraft shipments in 2008, at $197 billion; orders, at $231 billion; and backlog, at $402 billion by December 2008.

Backlog:
It's double the value of shipments and represents a 9 percent increase from year-end 2007, marking the fourth consecutive year of large gains. The backlog is primarily driven by a sharp increase in orders for commercial jetliners by foreign customers.

Business Aviation
Contributes over $150 billion to the U.S. economy each year, and generated $6 billion in export revenue in 2008.

Federal Aerospace Outlays:
Increased another billion dollars in Fiscal 2007 to $46 billion for aerospace products and services from DoD and NASA.

Weapons Procurement:
U.S. weapons procurement grew from $54 billion in FY 2001 to $146 billion in FY 2008.

Commercial Space Launch Backlog:
The U.S. still enjoys the largest backlog, with 78 commercial launch contracts by 2007, but orders have dropped. Russia and Europe have taken the lead in orders for new commercial launches, with 40 contracts versus 6 for the U.S.

World Airline Fleet:
Grew by almost 700 to 28,126 in 2007. While the quantity of aircraft manufactured in the U.S. increased, the market share of U.S.-manufactured aircraft in the world airline fleet dropped to 48.8%. (Was 51.9% in 2003)

R&D Funding:
The aerospace industry had $16.4 billion of R&D funding in 2006, $12 billion of which came directly from aerospace companies themselves.