AUSTRALIA 2015

- 9 -
Australia’s imports of Aircraft & parts -
update for 2015
Introduction
This article updates analysis on the impact of confidentiality in Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) international
merchandise trade statistics on imports of aircraft and parts. To avoid divulging commercially-sensitive details of
individual firms, the ABS restricts release of statistics on certain commodities. These restrictions have led to the
partial restriction of data released for imports of SITC code 792 – Aircraft, spacecraft & related parts and related
trade country import totals in ABS reported data.
The following data are estimates of those imports, drawing on publicly available information including data from the
countries where these imports are sourced. The methodology behind these estimates is laid out in Attachment A.
Estimates of imports of aircraft and related parts in 2015
Table 1 shows estimates of Australia’s imports of Aircraft, spacecraft & related parts. Australia’s imports of
Aircraft, spacecraft & related parts rose 52.3 per cent (or $2.0 billion) to $5.7 billion in 2015, making it Australia’s
13th largest import (in terms of goods and services). In 2015, Australian imported aircraft valued at $2.9 billion,
helicopters valued at $883 million and parts for aircraft & helicopters valued at $1.9 billion.
Table 1: Imports of Aircraft & parts by type
(A$ million)
% growth
% share 2014 to
2013 2014 2015 2015 2015
Aircraft 2,845 2,100 2,900 50.7 38.1
Helicopters 84 362 883 15.4 143.7
Parts of aircraft & helicopters 792 1,183 1,862 32.6 57.4
Other 64 110 74 1.3 -32.7
Total Aircraft, spacecraft & parts 3,785 3,756 5,720 100.0 52.3
Based on ABS & UN merchandise trade data on DFAT STARS database and Global Trade Atlas.
Table 2 shows imports of Aircraft, spacecraft & related parts by Australia’s major sources. In 2015, Australia’s top
source for these imports was the United States valued at $3.7 billion, up 50.1 per cent (or $1.2 billion). Following
the United States, Spain was the second largest source with imports up $395 million to $412 million, France with
imports down $297 million to $311 million was the third largest source and Italy with imports up $222 million to
$241 million the fourth largest source.
Table 2: Imports of Aircraft, spacecraft & parts for selected countries
(A$ million)
% growth
% share 2014 to
2013 2014 2015 2015 2015
Canada 150 84 145 2.5 73.2
France 770 608 311 5.4 -48.8
Germany 271 44 148 2.6 238.2
Italy 50 19 241 4.2 ..