First-quarter earnings at General Dynamics’s aerospace division, which includes Gulfstream and Jet Aviation, climbed by 6.7 percent year-over-year, to $431 million, despite a slight 1-percent drop in revenue, to $2.108 billion, parent company chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic said this morning during an investor conference call. Aircraft service mix, a supplier settlement and Jet Aviation boosted these numbers, she said.

The Savannah-based OEM delivered 34 green aircraft during the quarter, one fewer than in the same period a year ago. By category, Gulfstream shipped 27 large-cabin and seven midsize jets compared with 29 and six, respectively, a year ago. Aerospace backlog was mostly unchanged at nearly $13.1 billion, with the G450/550 attracting a stable 12-month backlog; G650, nearly three years; G280, nine months; and G150, 12 months. On the sales side, Novakovic said that the North American and Middle East markets are doing well, while the Latin American, Russian and Chinese markets have become softer. Overall, Gulfstream sales were “not strong” in the quarter, she added.

Meanwhile, Novakovic said the G500 and G600 programs are “proceeding well.” The G500, which rolled out in October, is expected to fly in the second quarter, and the first G600 prototype is now under construction. Gulfstream expects to begin green deliveries of the G500 in 2017, in time for the type to enter service in the first quarter of 2018; the G600 schedule trails by about one year, she said.