Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
GE Aerospace Q3 2025 Earning Lifts Guidance On Record LEAP Output And Strong Services
By Chris Sloan
October 21, 2025, © Leeham News: GE Aerospace reported third-quarter results today, marking another period of broad-based momentum as the company raised its full-year outlook on stronger services and record engine deliveries.
“GE Aerospace delivered an exceptional quarter with revenue up 26%,” said Chairman and CEO Larry Culp Jr. “Given the strength of our year-to-date results and our expectations for the fourth quarter, we’re raising our full-year guidance across the board.”
Improved material flow from key suppliers—up more than 35% year-over-year—helped drive the surge. Services revenue rose 28%, while engine deliveries climbed 33%, including record LEAP production up 40% from a year ago. Culp said the company’s operational rhythm continues to compound in the right direction reflecting both supply chain stability and persistent demand for narrowbody powerplants.
The quarter also brought several high-profile commercial wins. Korean Air announced the largest fleet commitment in its history—103 Boeing aircraft powered by a mix of GE9X, GEnx and LEAP-1B engines—along with a long-term services deal. Cathay Pacific expanded its GE9X order, adding 28 engines to bring its total to more than 70 for 35 Boeing 777-9 aircraft. The GE9X program continues to advance testing and durability work even as Boeing’s 777-X certification slips further into 2026.
Culp emphasized GE Aerospace’s depth of experience and installed base, noting that the company now supports 78,000 engines in service and has logged more than 2.3 billion flight hours. “With seven commercial engine certifications in the last two decades, this is an experience-based business that keeps us close to our customers,” he said.
Chief Financial Officer Rahul Ghai said GE expects roughly 2,000 LEAP engine shipments in 2025 and steady GE9X deliveries. “Our volume assumptions for 9X have not changed since July,” he said. “We do expect 9X losses to more than double year-over-year as we think about 2026, which will offset some of the positive growth we’ll see from Services.”
GE Aerospace Soars on Commercial Momentum in Q2; Updates on GE9X, GEnx, LEAP and RISE
By Chris Sloan
July 17, 2025, © Leeham News: GE Aerospace posted a standout second quarter and first half of 2025, with Q2 profit up 65% to $2.4bn, total revenue climbing 21% to $11.0bn, and profit margin rising to 21.7%, up from 15.9% a year ago—a 37% improvement. The company paired its earnings release with a comprehensive Deep Dive Investor Update, initially slated for the Paris Air Show but postponed following the Air India crash.
“We’re proud to be underway on three out of every four commercial flights,” said Chairman and CEO Larry Culp. “CES (Commercial Engines & Services) has more than 49,000 engines in service and growing.”
The strong quarter was driven by three commercial tailwinds: a 29% surge in services revenue, a 45% increase in total commercial engine units, and a record-breaking order for more than 400 GE9X and GEnx engines from Qatar Airways—the largest widebody engine deal in GE’s history.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 26. New versus old, Trent 1000 vs. XWB
By Bjorn Fehrm
September 27, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development and why it has longer timelines than airframe development. It also carries larger risks of product maturity problems when it enters service than the airframe of an airliner.
In our look at examples of recent developments with problems and these put in a historical perspective, looking at the reliability and durability of its predecessor we compare the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 to the Trent XWB for the Airbus A350.
Figure 1. The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 with its wide cord hollow titanium fan. Source: Rolls-Royce.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 25. New versus old, CFM56 vs. LEAP
By Bjorn Fehrm
September 20, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development and why it has longer timelines than airframe development. It also carries larger risks of product maturity problems when it enters service than the airframe of an airliner.
In our look at examples of recent developments with problems and these put in a historical perspective, we compare the CFM56 to the LEAP, comparing their reliability and durability.
Figure 1. The CFM56 with its mid-span shrouded titanium fan. Source: CFM.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 22. High Turbine technologies.
By Bjorn Fehrm
August 30, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development and why it has longer timelines than airframe development. It also carries larger risks of product maturity problems when it enters service than the airframe of an airliner.
We reached the turbine part on our way through the engine, where we last looked at high-pressure turbine temperatures. It’s the most stressed part of the engine and, in most cases, decides its durability. To understand why, we look closer at turbine technologies.
Figure 1. Our example engine, the LEAP-1A, is in cross-section with booster to compressor bleed valve area marked with a red circle. Source: CFM.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 21. The High Turbine.
August 23, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development and why it has longer timelines than airframe development. It also carries larger risks of product maturity problems when it enters service than the airframe. We discuss why.
In our journey through an engine, we have reached the turbine part, where we will dig deeper into the high-pressure turbine. This is the most stressed part of the engine and has a major influence on engine performance and durability.
Figure 1. Our example engine, the LEAP-1A cross-section with the high-pressure turbine marked. Source: CFM.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 18. Combustors.
By Bjorn Fehrm
August 2, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development. The aim is to understand why engine development now has longer timelines than airframe development and carries larger risks of product maturity problems.
To understand why engine development has become a challenging task, we need to understand engine fundamentals and the technologies used for these fundamentals.
We have covered the problem areas of (Figure 1) compression in the compressor and combustion, with its requirements on low Soot and NOx emissions. Now we look at how combustors are designed to achieve such low emissions.
Figure 1. The gas turbine cycle and its parts. Source: Rolls-Royce: The Jet Engine.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 16. Compressor air use.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 19, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development. The aim is to understand why engine development now has longer timelines than airframe development and carries larger risks of product maturity problems.
To understand why engine development has become a challenging task, we need to understand engine fundamentals and the technologies used for these fundamentals.
We have covered the problem areas of a compressor and how these achieve power-to-air-pressure conversion efficiencies of over 90% by using advanced 3D airflow modeling. Now, we look at the users of the air from the engin’s compressor.
Figure 1. The gas turbine cycle and its parts. Source: Rolls-Royce: The Jet Engine.
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 10. Propeller, Rotor or Fan?
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 7, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development. The aim is to understand why engine development now has longer timelines than airframe development and carries larger risks of product maturity problems.
To understand why engine development has become a challenging task, we need to understand engine fundamentals and the technologies used for these fundamentals.
Following the last Corner on airframe integration, several comments were made about the definition of propeller, open rotor, and/or fan. So, we’ll explore this further.
Figure 1. Evolution of Wright Brothers propellers from 1903 to 1905. Source: wright-brothers.org
Bjorn’s Corner: New engine development. Part 8. Open Rotor technology
By Bjorn Fehrm
May 17, 2024, ©. Leeham News: We do an article series about engine development. The aim is to understand why engine development now has longer timelines than airframe development and carries larger risks of product maturity problems.
To understand why engine development has become a challenging task, we need to understand engine fundamentals and the technologies used for these fundamentals.
In the last Corner, we looked at why Open-Rotor engines are more efficient. Their propulsive efficiency can be considerably higher than that of a turbofan. We will explore this further this week.
Figure 1. A counterrotating Open Rotor design that SAFRAN ground tested in 2019. Source: SAFRAN.