GE Aerospace Orders Jump 49% as Jet-Engine Demand Keeps Climbing

GE Aerospace said Tuesday that orders for jet engines and related services jumped 49 percent in the third quarter, prompting the company to raise its full-year profit forecast as airlines keep buying new planes and flying older ones for longer.

The Cincinnati-based engine maker reported total orders of $19 billion for the quarter, up from the year-ago period, alongside revenue of $14.1 billion under U.S. accounting rules, a 16 percent increase, according to the earnings release GE Aerospace filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Adjusted profit per share rose 36 percent to $2.25, and the company's operating margin expanded by 220 basis points to 22.5 percent. The filing, along with its supporting exhibits, is available in GE Aerospace's regulatory filing index on EDGAR.

Services revenue leads the way

The gains were concentrated in GE Aerospace's commercial engines and services division, where orders climbed 58 percent and revenue rose 21 percent to $10.3 billion. Services revenue, the recurring income the company earns from maintaining engines already in service, rose 17 percent, with overhaul revenue on the widely used LEAP engine up more than 40 percent as more of those engines reach the age where they need their first major shop visit. Spare-parts revenue grew more than 20 percent.

Equipment revenue, from selling new engines outright, rose 38 percent as total engine deliveries climbed 8 percent. The company's smaller defense and propulsion unit grew more modestly, with revenue up 7 percent to $3.5 billion, including higher output of engines for military aircraft and additive-manufacturing work through its Avio Aero and Unison units.

"Solid demand drove orders up 49%, with strength in commercial services up 23%, total revenue up 18%," Chairman and Chief Executive H. Lawrence Culp Jr. said in the company's statement, posted on GE Aerospace's own newsroom. Culp said the company now expects commercial-services revenue to grow at a low-double-digit pace in 2027, pointing to a maintenance backlog he put at more than $170 billion.

Guidance raised, cash flow lags

GE Aerospace raised its 2026 operating-profit guidance for its commercial engines business to a range of $10.5 billion to $10.6 billion, up from a prior range of roughly $10.25 billion to $10.35 billion, while leaving its defense-unit guidance unchanged. The upgrade came even though free cash flow fell 14 percent in the quarter to $2 billion, which the company attributed in part to the timing of supplier payments and inventory build to support higher deliveries.

The company's order book has been bolstered by a string of recent deals detailed in its press-release archive, including commitments for more than 1,800 engines announced at the Farnborough air show and a record agreement with India's IndiGo for more than 1,000 LEAP-1A engines. In October, Turkish Airlines signed for more than 300 LEAP-1B engines plus a long-term services agreement covering its existing fleet of more than 600 of the engines.

GE Aerospace's results land amid a broader boom in aircraft-engine demand, as airlines work through years of deferred fleet renewal and manufacturers Boeing and Airbus continue to struggle with production bottlenecks that have left many carriers flying older jets longer than planned, driving up demand for the maintenance and spare-parts business that now accounts for the bulk of the company's commercial profit. The company separately disclosed a pending acquisition of Consolidated Precision Products, aimed at expanding its in-house castings capacity, a move it has described as addressing a persistent industry-wide supply bottleneck for the metal components used inside jet engines.