The Shops and Parts That Are Not GE’sThin moat

GE Aerospace (GE) — moat facet

The real competitor is not another engine. It is another part inside a GE engine.

No competitor will take GE Aerospace's installed base. Several are taking pieces of what that base spends, and this is the competitive threat that actually reaches the margin.

Three ways somebody else takes the overhaul moneyIndependent MROperforms the work GEwould do internallyApprovedalternative partsregulator-certified,no GE consentUsed serviceablematerialharvested fromretired enginesGE’s answerbundle it into 10-25year agreementsThe pressure is worst on mature fleets: the CFM56 is the largest until LEAP overtakes it.
No competitor will take the installed base. Several are taking pieces of what it spends.

Three groups do it. Independent maintenance, repair and overhaul shops perform the work GE Aerospace would otherwise do internally. Approved alternative parts manufacturers obtain regulatory approval to supply components for GE engines without GE's involvement. And dealers in used serviceable material harvest components from retired engines, re-certify them and sell them back into overhauls at a fraction of a new part's price.

Each competes for the same event — a shop visit — and each is cheapest exactly where GE Aerospace earns most: on mature, high-volume engine types with large fleets and a growing supply of retired airframes. The CFM56, described in GE Aerospace's own filing as mature and due to be overtaken by the LEAP as the industry's largest fleet1, is the most contested.

GE Aerospace's posture is pragmatic rather than defensive. Its commercial customers include third-party MRO shops, to whom it sells spare parts and licenses maintenance technology2. It does not need to perform every overhaul; it needs its parts in every overhaul. Long-term service agreements help, because they bundle parts and labour and remove the operator's part-by-part choice — and those agreements run ten to twenty-five years3.

The threat's shape is chronic rather than acute. It never removes the franchise; it compresses the revenue per shop visit, slowly, on ageing fleets, and it resets each time a new engine type enters service with no retired population to harvest.

The measure would be services revenue per shop visit, which GE Aerospace does not disclose. What it does disclose is internal shop visit revenue growth — 24% in 20254 and 30% in the first half of 20265 — and the word internal is doing work in that phrase.

Moat trajectory: Narrowing

The alternative-parts and used-serviceable-material threat grows with every fleet that matures, and the CFM56 — the largest fleet in the industry until the LEAP overtakes it — is at exactly the point where an independent parts industry is best supplied. The offsetting effect is that each new engine type resets it, which is a delay rather than a defence.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Internal shop visit revenue growth
24% in 2025, 30% in the first half of 2026

The word internal is doing work: it measures the overhauls GE Aerospace performs itself, not the parts going into somebody else's. Services revenue per shop visit is not disclosed, and it is the figure that would show approved alternative parts and used serviceable material reaching the margin.

Source: GE Aerospace Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025 ↗
References
  1. ReportedThe CFM56, described in GE Aerospace's own filing as mature and due to be overtaken by the LEAP as the industry's largest fleet, is the most contested.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 Business — segment descriptions for Commercial Engines & Services and Defense & Propulsion Technologies, the CFM International 50-50 non-consolidated joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, the commercial engine platforms (LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X, CF6, GE90), the defence platforms (F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901, LM2500), the Propulsion & Additive Technologies brands, the CFM RISE programme, the customer description including airframers and sole-source positions, and the segment revenue and services shares. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedIts commercial customers include third-party MRO shops, to whom it sells spare parts and licenses maintenance technology.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 Business — segment descriptions for Commercial Engines & Services and Defense & Propulsion Technologies, the CFM International 50-50 non-consolidated joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, the commercial engine platforms (LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X, CF6, GE90), the defence platforms (F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901, LM2500), the Propulsion & Additive Technologies brands, the CFM RISE programme, the customer description including airframers and sole-source positions, and the segment revenue and services shares. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedLong-term service agreements help, because they bundle parts and labour and remove the operator's part-by-part choice — and those agreements run ten to twenty-five years.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm — the critical audit matter on revenue recognition for certain Aerospace long-term service agreements, which notes that the agreements generally range from 10 to 25 years, that revenue is recognised on the percentage-of-completion method, and that the key assumptions requiring significant management judgement are customer utilisation, the expected timing and extent of future overhaul services, future costs of materials and labour, and forward-looking information. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedWhat it does disclose is internal shop visit revenue growth — 24% in 2025 and 30% in the first half of 2026 — and the word internal is doing work in that phrase.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Segment Operations — Commercial Engines & Services: segment revenue, profit and margin, commercial engine and LEAP unit deliveries, internal shop visit revenue growth, the CES remaining performance obligation, the 2025 engine commitments from Qatar Airways, Emirates, International Airlines Group, ANA Holdings, Malaysia Aviation Group, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Pegasus, and commercial departures growth. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedWhat it does disclose is internal shop visit revenue growth — 24% in 2025 and 30% in the first half of 2026 — and the word internal is doing work in that phrase.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Management's Discussion and Analysis — consolidated revenue, profit and earnings per share, the segment results for Commercial Engines & Services and Defense & Propulsion Technologies, commercial engine and LEAP unit deliveries, internal shop visit revenue growth, the remaining performance obligation and its equipment and services split, the supply chain, tariff and Middle East discussions, and the planned $1 billion US manufacturing investment and 5,000 US hires. — Q2 2026 · publ. July 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026