Textron Aviation, manufacturer of Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft, revenues were up 22% year-over-year to $1.5bn.

“We also continued to see solid order flow and customer demand across our product lines, ending the quarter with $8bn of backlog, up $276m from the end of 2025,” said David Rosenberg, chief financial officer, Textron during the earnings call.

Textron Aviation’s 37 jet deliveries in the quarter were up six from 31 in the first quarter of 2025, and 35 commercial turboprops, up from 30 in last year’s first quarter.

“We got off to a strong start to the year with 37 jet deliveries and 35 commercial turboprop deliveries. These are both up nicely from a year ago as we continue to drive throughput in our factories,” said Lisa Atherton, CEO, Textron.

Textron Aviation has built approximately 250,000 aircraft in its history and has the largest installed base in general aviation, nearly 4x the next largest. 

Segment profit was $154m in the first quarter, up $32m, or 26% from a year ago, primarily due to higher aircraft volume and mix, partially offset by higher selling and administrative expense and warranty costs.

Textron Aviation backlog at the end of the first quarter was $8bn. Robert Stallard of Vertical Research Partners estimates this translates to a book-to-bill ratio for the segment of 1.2x.

Textron to become pure-play aviation and defence

While the results were above the industry consensus, much of the conversation focused on Textron’s move to split its industrial segment into a separate entity. 

“We’ve long been advocates for Textron to be a more focused A&D company, as there was no strategic rationale for the Industrial division to be in the portfolio. New CEO Lisa Atherton has clearly drawn a similar conclusion, and we think this has the potential to significantly rerate the shares,” said Stallard.

The exact process for doing this has not been decided, with management looking at a spin or a sale. Completing this transaction is likely to take 12-18 months, leaving Textron as a focused aerospace and defence company. 

“This is a consequential and exciting step in our evolution, establishing new Textron as a pure-play A&D company aligned to its core franchises of Textron Aviation, Bell and Textron Systems,” said Atherton in the earnings call.

Textron will explore multiple paths to effect this planned separation, including a sale of the Industrial businesses or a tax-free spin-off into a stand-alone publicly traded company.

“We will work through alternatives on the approach over the coming quarters and are targeting a completion of the separation within 12 to 18 months. In the interim, we will continue to operate in the normal course of business,” Atherton added.