GE Aerospace (GE)

GE Aerospace, the jet engine maker that remains of General Electric, reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $14.1 billion on 20 October, up 16 percent 1. Orders rose 49 percent to $19.0 billion, and profit was $2.8 billion, up 12 percent 1. Most of the growth came from services, the overhauls and spare parts for engines already flying 1.

In commercial engines, services revenue grew 17 percent, with spare parts up more than 20 percent and shop visit revenue for the LEAP engine up over 40 percent 1. Equipment revenue grew 38 percent as engine deliveries rose 8 percent 1. Chairman and chief executive H Lawrence Culp Jr said "solid demand drove orders up 49%" as the company raised its 2026 guidance across the board 1.

The open question is a purchase: the company agreed to buy Consolidated Precision Products, a castings maker, for $11.75 billion, and expects the deal to close in the second half of 2027 2. Its newest engine, the GE9X for the Boeing 777X, also waits on the FAA: engines shipped this quarter with an upgraded seal count as revenue only after certification 23.

General Electric, incorporated in 1892, was by 2018 a conglomerate with segments in power, oil and gas, lighting, renewable energy, healthcare, aviation and transportation, plus a finance arm called Capital 6. In the second half of 2018 it wrote down $22.1 billion of goodwill, the premium once paid for businesses, mostly in power 6. It blamed overcapacity in the power industry, which left its equipment underused 6.

On 1 October 2018 the board named H Lawrence Culp Jr, a director since April that year and chief executive of Danaher from 2000 to 2014, as chairman and chief executive 9. He replaced John Flannery, who had resigned 9.

The pandemic then hit the engine business hardest 5. Aviation revenue fell to $22,042 million in 2020 from $32,875 million in 2019, with global departures about 40 percent below their level before COVID-19 at the end of 2020 5.

On 1 November 2021 the company sold its aircraft leasing arm, GE Capital Aviation Services, to AerCap for $22.6 billion in cash, about 46 percent of AerCap's shares and $1 billion of AerCap notes 8. It said the cash would go to cutting debt, by about $75 billion in total since the end of 2018 8. On 9 November 2021 it announced a plan to split into three public companies, in aviation, healthcare and energy 7.

GE HealthCare was spun off on 3 January 2023, with about 80.1 percent of its shares handed to GE's shareholders 3. GE Vernova, the energy business, followed on 2 April 2024, and what remained operates as GE Aerospace 3. On 16 November 2023 the company sold its last AerCap shares, and in the fourth quarter of 2024 its last GE HealthCare shares 4.

As travel came back, revenue rose $6.2 billion, or 21 percent, in 2023 compared with 2022 4. More engines went onto new jets and to spare stocks, and services gained from more spare parts, more shop visits, heavier work per visit and better pricing 4. Shop visits are the overhauls an engine needs during its working life, part of the aftermarket services that bring about 70 percent of revenue 3.

As an engine company, revenue grew from $35,348 million in 2023 to $38,702 million in 2024 and $45,855 million in 2025 3. In 2024 commercial engine deliveries fell to 1,911 from 2,075, mainly because of supply chain constraints, while higher spare parts volume and pricing lifted services 4. In 2025 deliveries rose to 2,386, including 1,802 LEAP engines, on better material supply 3.

Net income from continuing operations was $8,601 million in 2025, against $6,670 million in 2024 and $9,154 million in 2023 3. The 2024 dip came mostly from $5.2 billion less gain on the GE HealthCare and AerCap stakes than in 2023 4. In 2025 segment profit rose $2.0 billion 3.

Commercial engines and services

Commercial Engines & Services designs, builds and services engines for airliners, business jets and aeroderivative uses, and was about 73 percent of revenue in 2025 3. Three quarters of its revenue came from services: overhauls, repairs and spare parts, sold under long-term agreements or by the job 3. In 2025 it had revenue of $33,314 million and segment profit of $8,861 million 3.

Its installed base, every engine of its make in the world, counts about 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military engines, and aftermarket services bring about 70 percent of company revenue 3. That is why an engine sold today matters for decades: commercial engines can fly for decades, needing service all the while 3.

LEAP and CFM56, the narrowbody engines

The LEAP engine powers narrowbody jets such as the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 MAX, through CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture with France's Safran 32. The company expects LEAP, in service since 2016, to overtake the older CFM56 as the industry's largest fleet 3. On some Boeing models its engines are the only engine offered 3.

LEAP deliveries reached 1,565 in the first nine months of 2026, against 1,240 a year earlier 2. IndiGo agreed to take more than 1,000 LEAP-1A engines, the largest LEAP agreement, and Ryanair signed a services deal covering about 2,000 CFM56 and LEAP engines 2. A newly certified durability kit for the LEAP-1B, with an upgraded turbine blade, is expected to roughly double its time on the wing 2.

Widebody engines: CF6, GE90, GEnx and GE9X

For long-haul jets the company sells the mature CF6 and GE90, the GEnx, in service since 2011, and the new GE9X built for the Boeing 777X 3. In 2026 United Airlines and Delta picked the GEnx for their Boeing 787 Dreamliner orders 2. In 2025 Qatar Airways ordered more than 400 GEnx and GE9X engines, the largest widebody engine order in the company's history 13.

Boeing expects the first 777-9 delivery in 2027, and it is working with the FAA and its engine supplier to certify a fix for an engine durability issue found in 2025 15.

Defense and Propulsion Technologies

Defense & Propulsion Technologies makes engines for fighters, bombers, tankers, transports and helicopters, plus marine engines and aircraft parts, and was about 23 percent of revenue in 2025 3. Its main programs include the F110, F404 and F414 fighter engines, the T408, T700 and T901 helicopter engines and the LM2500 marine engine 3. In the first nine months of 2026 its revenue rose 13 percent to $10,126 million 2.

Its Propulsion & Additive Technologies unit sells parts and systems under the Avio Aero, Unison, Dowty Propellers and Colibrium Additive brands 3. A contract worth up to $2.9 billion covers support for the F414 engines of the US Navy's F/A-18 and EA-18G fleets 1. The GEK800 engine, developed with Kratos, was named a second source of power for the JASSM cruise missile 1.

Plants and people

Manufacturing and service work runs at 70 sites in 23 US states and Puerto Rico and at 62 sites in 23 other countries 3. At the end of 2025 the company employed about 57,000 people, about 30,000 of them in the United States 3. Its lean operating method, which it calls FLIGHT DECK, ranks the priorities as safety, quality, delivery and cost 3.

H Lawrence Culp Jr has been chairman and chief executive since 2018 9. Rahul Ghai has been finance chief since August 2022, and Mohamed Ali runs Commercial Engines & Services 13. On 21 September 2026 the board named Wes Bush, a former Northrop Grumman chief executive, its independent lead director 12.

Rivals

The company competes with the other global engine makers and, for repairs, with independent overhaul shops 3. On the Airbus A320neo, the LEAP-1A faces Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan, which RTX says powers more than 2,600 aircraft for over 90 operators 162. Rivals may offer deep discounts and financing to win an engine order, because each engine brings years of parts and repair work 3.

Current problems

The Air India Boeing 787-8 that crashed after takeoff on 12 June 2025 flew on GEnx engines, and the preliminary report found both fuel control switches moved to cutoff 17. The final report was delayed past the first anniversary as analysis of the engines went on, AVweb reported on 11 June 2026 17.

Legacy businesses remain, among them a run-off book of long-term care reinsurance that lost $210 million in the third quarter, against a $361 million profit a year earlier 13. In Poland, Bank BPH faces borrower lawsuits over foreign currency mortgages, and its estimate of total losses was $1,658 million at 30 September 2026, down from $2,334 million 2.

Two shareholder derivative lawsuits, from a wave filed since February 2018, are still pending in New York state court 3. Reserves for environmental cleanup, such as the Housatonic River, and for worker exposure claims were $2,222 million 2.

The umbrella, in words

The legal company is General Electric Company, and it operates as GE Aerospace 3. Its subsidiaries exhibit lists only its principal affiliates, among them Avio, Unison Industries, GE Aviation Systems, Arcam, Concept Laser and the insurers Employers Reassurance and Union Fidelity Life 14. It owns 51 percent of GE Evergreen Engine Services in Taiwan and 63 percent of GE Passport 14.

Its largest partnership is CFM International, the 50-50 joint venture with Safran, to which it sells substantial parts and services 3. It has invested in BETA Technologies, a partner in its hybrid electric flight test, and booked $295 million of investment income on that stake in 2025 32.

The old stakes are gone: the AerCap note, the last piece of the leasing sale, matured in the fourth quarter of 2025 3. The largest holders in the 2026 proxy are Vanguard with 8.4 percent, BlackRock with 7.9 percent and Fidelity with 6.4 percent, from the ownership reports they filed 13.

On 20 October 2026 the company raised its full-year guidance, now expecting adjusted revenue, which leaves out the run-off insurance book, to grow about 19 to 20 percent, up from the high teens 1. It expects operating profit of $10.9 to $11.0 billion and free cash flow of $9.1 to $9.4 billion 1.

For Commercial Engines & Services it now expects 2026 revenue growth in the low 20s percent and operating profit of $10.5 to $10.6 billion 1. For Defense & Propulsion Technologies it still expects low double-digit revenue growth and profit of $1.6 to $1.7 billion 1. Culp said the company expects 2027 commercial services to grow low double digits, backed by a services backlog of over $170 billion 1.

The backlog of contracted work not yet done, its remaining performance obligation, stood at $33,337 million for equipment and $178,747 million for services at 30 September 2026 2. The company expects 32 percent of the equipment part to be delivered within a year 2.

The company plans to pay for Consolidated Precision Products with about $7 billion of cash and new debt for the rest, and expects to close in the second half of 2027, subject to regulators 2. CPP, based in Cleveland, Ohio, makes castings for aircraft, engines and weapons, with about 6,600 employees at more than 20 facilities 10. The company projects its own demand for airfoils, the blades and vanes inside an engine, to grow more than 30 percent 11.

In defense, the XA102 adaptive-cycle engine is moving into hardware buying and component testing under the US Air Force's Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program 1. Culp said the company spends over $3 billion a year on research and development for current and future technologies 1.

The company says it intends to return part of its free cash flow through dividends and buybacks, and in 2026 it repurchased 11.9 million shares for $4.0 billion 2. Boeing expects approval of the final phases of 777X flight testing by the end of 2026, the airplane the GE9X is built for 153.