ABOVE: The extended lockdowns prompted many people to learn new skills (including flying an aircraft)
Demand for Cirrus aircraft increased substantially over the last few years, and reached record numbers in the first two years of the Covid pandemic, the company revealed during an interview with Pilot.
“At the beginning of the pandemic demand for general aviation aircraft receded, but soon after that the market trend actually turned, and demand for personal and general aviation aircraft started accelerating. In fact, in the two years that followed the start of Covid, we saw the largest demand ever for Cirrus aircraft” said Ben Kowalski, Cirrus Senior Vice-President of Sales.
Cirrus also said that the pandemic pushed more newcomers towards general aviation. “Before the pandemic, about 15% of our buyers were newcomers, meaning people that did not previously hold a pilot licence. But that percentage went up to almost 40% during Covid”.
There’s a number of reasons why demand from newcomers increased during the pandemic, according to Kowalski. Among them, there’s the fact that during the extended lockdowns people had more time to learn a new skill (like flying an aircraft) and that airlines severely reduced their schedules, prompting many people to explore the possibility of owning and operating an aircraft.
PHOTO: CIRRUS AIRCRAFT
