Obama wreckage: Airplane shipments way down

In the early days of the Barack Obama adminisration--and by the way, is it just me, or does it seem that he's been president for a couple of years now--corporate jets were the boogie man.

AP surveys the damage that the Obama attitude may have caused:

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported Tuesday that total general aviation airplane shipments fell 45.9 percent in the first half of 2009. Manufacturers shipped 1,036 planes from January through June compared with 1,918 in the same period of 2008.

Industry billings are down 22.7 percent to $9.26 billion.

GAMA president Pete Bunce said in a news release that layoffs continue and the industry has been forced to slow or halt production lines.

Shipments of piston-powered airplanes were the hardest hit, down 58 percent. Turboprop shipments fell 13.6 percent, while shipments of business jets declined by 37.9 percent.

Not all corporate planes are jets, some firms utilize piston powered aircraft.

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