Canada’s Bombardier forecasts higher business jet deliveries in 2023 By Reuters

(Reuters) – Canada’s Bombardier (OTC:) Inc on Thursday forecast higher business jet deliveries for 2023 in a sign of easing supply-chain pressures and strong demand for private flying.

It expects full-year deliveries of more than 138 jets, compared with 123 last year.

Backlogs of corporate jet makers have swelled over the last two years as demand for private flying shows little signs of cooling down, even against the fading threat of COVID infections on commercial flights.

Cessna jet maker Textron Inc (NYSE:) had also offered a strong 2023 forecast last month.

“The bizjet and luxury goods markets are off to a resilient start in 2023, demonstrating that high net worth individuals are still spending,” Desjardins analysts said in a note earlier this week.

Aerospace executives have also said that labor and parts shortages that last year left jet makers struggling to fulfill demand are set to ease in 2023.

Bombardier’s backlog at 2022-end was $14.8 billion, a $2.6 billion increase. Book-to-bill, or ratio of orders received to units shipped and billed for the period, was 1.4.

It forecast 2023 revenue of more than $7.6 billion, compared with estimates of $7.69 billion, according to Refinitiv data. It expects annual adjusted core earnings of over $1.13 billion, up 21%.

Aftermarket services, a lucrative business for planemakers, is also expected to boost results in 2023.

Free cash flow is expected to be over $250 million, compared with last year’s $735 million. The 2023 figure includes one-time payments of about $125 million related to residual value guarantees and net additions to property, plant and equipment, as well as intangible assets of about $350 million.

For the fourth quarter, Bombardier’s profit rose to $241 million, or $2.40 per share, from $238 million, or $2.34 per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose nearly 50% to $2.66 billion.