While Bombardier posted growth in 2024 and sees promising market momentum, uncertainties surrounding potential 25% U.S. tariffs against Canada cloud its anticipated results going into 2025. As such, the Canadian-based manufacturer held off on providing guidance for this year as it usually does when it releases its year-end results.

“I am very disappointed that we can’t guide 2025 today,” Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel told analysts this morning, releasing the company’s 2024 year-end results. “The team and I were well prepared to confirm our 2025 objectives today, but in light of the current tariff threat, not providing guidance is the most responsible and transparent thing for us to do.”

He stressed the need to exercise caution to see how tariffs unfold, especially given the changes that occurred over the past week. “There is a lot at stake for our industry.” Martel noted that Bombardier has 2,800 U.S.-based suppliers across 47 states that create tens of thousands of U.S. jobs. The impact would vary by product line, with the Challenger most vulnerable given its success in the U.S. Globals have a larger international presence, he said.

However, Martel stressed that while Bombardier enters 2025 with caution, “Let me be very clear, caution doesn’t mean at all a thing that breaks. Orders continue to come in from around the world…We have not seen cancellations.”

Montreal-based Bombardier’s deliveries last year scaled up by eight units to 146 aircraft and revenues beat guidance at $8.7 billion as service revenues jumped by 16%. However, even as deliveries climbed, they were still a bit softer than anticipated with ongoing supply-chain “headwinds,” company executives reported this morning while releasing the 2024 year-end results.

Bombardier delivered 73 Globals and 73 Challenger 3500s and 650s last year. This marks two fewer Globals from 2023 but a 10-aircraft jump in Challengers.

Shipments missed guidance for 2024 of 150 to 155 deliveries but were near the 150 range that Bombardier anticipated for its product lines in upcoming years. In the fourth quarter, Global deliveries dipped by three, to 29, while Challenger shipments increased by four, to 28.

Bombardier’s services business topped $2 billion in the year, representing a doubling of revenues in the past five years and a mark reached a year earlier than anticipated. As a result, Bombardier revenues still beat guidance at $8.7 billion, which represented an 8% growth over $8.05 billion in 2023.

Honeywell’s board of directors today revealed the results of a business portfolio evaluation that began a year ago and plans for a full separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies. This follows a previously announced plan to spin off Advanced Materials. The three companies will be separated and publicly listed in the second half of 2026.

Although the evaluation started a year ago, the breakup of Honeywell is believed to have accelerated following a $5 billion investment last year by Elliott Investment Management funds and a letter sent Nov. 12, 2024, to the Honeywell board “calling for a simplification of Honeywell's conglomerate structure.”

The aerospace technologies company will continue to build on the division’s propulsion, cockpit and navigation systems, and auxiliary power systems products. Honeywell Aerospace had revenues of $15 billion in 2024 and “will be one of the largest publicly traded, pure-play aerospace suppliers, with leading positions in technology and systems that will continue to deliver the future of aviation through increasing electrification and autonomy of flight,” according to Honeywell.

"As [Honeywell] Aerospace prepares for unprecedented demand in the years ahead across both commercial and defense markets, now is the right time for the business to begin its own journey as a standalone, public company," said Honeywell chairman and CEO Vimal Kapur.

As the NTSB continues its probe into the PSA and Med Jets accidents last week that claimed the lives of a combined 74 people and injured two dozen more, 30 national aviation associations have pledged to take action “to ensure accidents like these never happen again.” At the same time, the associations urged policymakers to provide adequate funding to ensure the FAA and NTSB can carry out their work.

The associations issued a joint statement yesterday saying the aviation community is united in its grief and promised: “We never take safety for granted, and we never will.”

Expressing confidence that the NTSB, working with the affected agencies, will identify root causes and issue recommendations to prevent future accidents, the groups maintained: “We strongly support this important work and urge policymakers to ensure that the NTSB and the FAA have the staffing and resources needed to ensure that the U.S. aviation system is safe and efficient and can continue to innovate.”

The joint statement followed a separate statement from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on Tuesday touting the professionalism of the controllers but also calling for increased staffing. “All air traffic controllers—regardless of race or gender—are well-trained and highly skilled dedicated professionals who keep the national airspace system safe,” NATCA stressed. “We have performed these duties while working short-staffed."

Business aircraft flight activity in Europe is expected to show only marginal growth of 0.3% in 2025, according to the latest projections from Argus International. Presenting data yesterday at the Corporate Jet Investor conference in London, Argus senior v-p of software Travis Kuhn said that the most significant monthly traffic growth will be 2% in November, while a 1.5% dip is expected in August.

The forecast for Europe is slightly stronger than the 0.2% traffic increase that Argus last month predicted for the North American market in 2025. Kuhn said that the first half of this year will be slightly busier in Europe than the second half.

In 2024, Argus logged just over 4.8 million business aircraft flights globally, with the U.S. accounting for 64% of these departures. Collectively, activity in Europe accounted for 16.9% of all departures, while Canada stood at 4.4%.

“Between 2023 and 2024, the [traffic] trend in Europe was about 5% down after the post-Covid period [of strong growth], but we’re now starting to see some stabilization in Europe, as well as the U.S.,” Kuhn said. “We saw this in the last few months of 2024, and there is now some optimism.”

Leveraging its success in the light jet market, aircraft broker JetAviva is expanding its preowned aircraft sales and acquisitions activity into the large-cabin and ultra-long-range segments.

To spearhead the strategic expansion, the U.S.-based company has assembled a dedicated large-cabin department led by Ben Dow, JetAviva’s senior managing director and Dassault Falcon specialist, alongside industry veteran Jim Lewis, who brings more than three decades of Gulfstream expertise to the team. Combined, the pair has handled hundreds of transactions involving Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault Falcon aircraft.

“The demand from our clients for large-cabin aircraft solutions has never been stronger,” JetAviva CEO Emily Deaton stated. JetAviva indicated it is positioning itself to capture a larger share of this segment while maintaining its established presence in the light jet market.

Supporting the new department are market research specialists Carter Tos and Sean O’Brien, who will provide market analysis and data-driven insights for the large-cabin segment. The company, which holds International Aircraft Dealers Association accreditation, and reported this week that half of its transactions in 2024 came from repeat customers, sees this expertise as crucial in navigating transactions within the large-cabin market.

Lewis, who recently joined JetAviva, noted that the expansion presents “an exciting opportunity to help drive the growth of a powerful and respected brand while leveraging my experience to deliver exceptional results for our customers.”

The second-annual Future Opportunities for Seaplanes and Amphibious Aviation (FOSAA) show is set to draw larger numbers of delegates, sponsors, and exhibitors for the event on Tuesday in Miami’s Biltmore Hotel. According to organizers Quaynote Communications and Arena Group, the increased interest since the inaugural 2024 show held in Venice, Italy, is indicative of growing momentum for a new wave of water-based aircraft in a variety of applications, including passenger transportation.

This year’s conference program will consider how the emerging sector of aviation intersects with other industries, including luxury tourism, special missions, and yachting. The keynote address will be given by Rob Ceravolo, founder and CEO of Tropic Ocean Airlines, which is one of the largest seaplane operators in the Americas.

One new feature of FOSAA25 is a series of roundtable sessions that allow delegates to interact in smaller groups to discuss topics including pilot training, successful seaplane operations, medical evacuation flights, maintenance, aircraft interiors, and environmental transfers in which hazardous contagions can be spread by floats. Each table will be hosted by a subject matter expert.

Senior executives from Seaplane Asia, Mallard Enterprises, Anatra, Cookson Adventures, the Southeast Insurance Group, and the Seaplane Pilots Association will be featured in the event’s operators panel. Another panel session on new propulsion technology will include contributions from Aeroconsult, Tidal Flight, Jekta, Elfly, Kotnik Aviation, and Wright Electric.