Rising demand for air travel lifts Astronics performance

Astronics has reported financial results for the three and six months ended 3 July 2021.

Peter J. Gundermann, President and CEO, commented: “Our second quarter was one of slow but steady progress. Our core aerospace markets strengthened as vaccinations took hold and passenger traffic accelerated. We are encouraged by our bookings trend, especially in our Aerospace segment, where we achieved a book-to-bill ratio of 1.32 for the quarter. We expect these bookings will drive higher sales in the second half of 2021.”

Sales for the quarter were US$111.2 million – down $12.5 million from the second quarter of 2020. Aerospace sales were down $13.4 million.

Supply chain pressures became increasingly impactful as the quarter progressed, mostly affecting delivery schedules but with some pricing pressure also. These pressures limited the company’s ability to respond to accelerated or quick-turn delivery requests from customers. The company estimates that revenue would have been $5 million to $10 million higher in the second quarter if its supply chain was performing normally.

According to the company, commercial aerospace continues to see depressed sales relative to pre-pandemic levels. Sales to this market were $47.8 million, or 43.0% of consolidated revenue in the quarter, compared with $67.5 million, or 54.6% of consolidated revenue in the second quarter of 2020. Demand related to new build and retrofit narrow body aircraft is improving and expected to continue to build through 2021 and into the future. The improvement has been driven by growing domestic travel supporting increased production rates of the 737 MAX and narrow body aircraft being placed back in service. The production and utilisation rates of widebody aircraft have remained very low as international travel has been slow to recover.

EBusiness Jet sales were down $0.5 million, or 3.5%, to $15.0 million.

Gundermann stated: “Our aerospace business is seeing solid demand recovery, most evident in narrowbody commercial transports and general aviation. This has driven higher bookings and a solid 1.28 book-to-bill ratio for the first half of 2021, despite continued weakness in the widebody international market, which is well documented.”