Business optimism fueling market for private jets, CEO says
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A Cessna Citation CJ-4 Gen2 business jet, manufactured by Textron. Photo: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Small and midsized companies are feeling good about the coming business environment, and that could be a tailwind for a seller of private jets, Textron CEO Scott Donnelly said.
Why it matters: It's an anecdotal, but more tangible, confirmation of recent data indicating that the election fueled a surge in CEO confidence.
Zoom in: "I think that in general, tax policy, regulatory policy is encouraging to them and therefore, they feel good about their businesses," Donnelly told analysts on the company's earnings call Wednesday.
- "I think in general, just the nature of our kinds of customers that they think the outlook for business is good, and that's good for the prospects of private aviation."
Those customers, according to Donnelly, includes entrepreneurial and high net-wealth buyers.
Textron, which makes Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft, is still recovering from a nearly month-long union strike last fall, which took a toll on production.
- Lingering effects from the strike, combined with continued challenges in its industrials segment, led to a 2025 profit forecast that disappointed investors. Shares fell as much as 6% Wednesday morning.
The intrigue: Demand in Textron's aviation unit didn't fall off during the presidential election, as it normally does.
- "It's actually kind of interesting. I mean, normally we see more of a slowdown a little bit before the election just because people don't like a lot of uncertainty," Donnelly said, though he attributed at least part of that to the size of the company's backlog.
Zoom out: Others in the private-jet industry, which was already enjoying a strong year, have pointed to a Trump bump.
- Rollie Vincent, director of JetNet IQ, which tracks business aviation in industry surveys, told Robb Report back in November that Trump's re-election caused its market indicators to pop 35 points.
- "There are a lot of signs right now that things aren't going to slow down, at least not for the short term — barring a black-swan event."
On the new administration, Textron is watching tariffs — particularly with Canada and Mexico — which Donnelly described as "very much a wildcard."
- "Look, it's an unknown," he told analysts. "And so we're not really positioned one way or the other. We've got to see how this plays out. I think a lot of this is around negotiations and working on how you deal with the free trade agreements on a go-forward basis."
The bottom line: The high-flying market for private jets doesn't seem to be landing anytime soon.
