⚠ Three Quarters of the Deliveries Run Through Somebody ElseModerate threat

GE Aerospace (GE) — threat to the moat

Three quarters of the commercial engines delivered run through a structure GE Aerospace does not control.

The concentration in GE Aerospace's equipment franchise is easy to miss because the company reports a single commercial engine number.

How much of GE Aerospace runs through CFMLEAP share of 2025 deliveries75%CES share of total revenue~73%DPT share of total revenue~23%GE Aerospace ownership of CFM50%Rising, which means the joint venture is becoming more of the company rather than less.
Three quarters of the equipment flow runs through a structure GE Aerospace does not control.

Of 2,386 commercial engines delivered in 2025, 1,802 were LEAP1 — seventy-five per cent. Every one of them was sold by CFM International, the fifty-fifty non-consolidated joint venture with Safran2. The aftermarket those engines will generate over the next three decades is divided under the same arrangement.

That is a large share of the company's future economics running through a structure GE Aerospace does not control and does not consolidate. It is also a large share running through two airframe programmes, since the LEAP is exclusive on the 737 MAX and holds more than fifty-five per cent of the A320neo family3.

The exposure is not that the partnership will fail — it dates from 1974 and has produced the CFM56 and the LEAP. It is that the most important strategic decisions in the company are joint decisions, that the economics are shared, and that a change of ownership, strategy or national policy on the French side would reach directly into GE Aerospace's largest franchise.

The diversification that exists is genuine but smaller: GEnx, GE9X, CF6 and GE90 on widebodies, regional and business engines, and a defence business that was twenty-three per cent of revenue in 20254.

Watch the LEAP share of commercial deliveries: seventy-five per cent in 20255. Rising, which it is, means the joint venture is becoming more of the company rather than less.

References
  1. ReportedOf 2,386 commercial engines delivered in 2025, 1,802 were LEAP — seventy-five per cent.
    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 ↗
  2. ReportedEvery one of them was sold by CFM International, the fifty-fifty non-consolidated joint venture with Safran.
    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. Third-party estimateIt is also a large share running through two airframe programmes, since the LEAP is exclusive on the 737 MAX and holds more than fifty-five per cent of the A320neo family.
    Aviation and market coverage of GE Aerospace's narrowbody position and delivery ramp - the LEAP as the exclusive powerplant on the Boeing 737 MAX and holding more than 55% of the Airbus A320neo family through the CFM joint venture, the target of about 2,000 LEAP deliveries in 2026, first-half deliveries up 41%, and CFM RISE described as a technology demonstrator rather than a product for sale. — 2026 · publ. August 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThe diversification that exists is genuine but smaller: GEnx, GE9X, CF6 and GE90 on widebodies, regional and business engines, and a defence business that was twenty-three per cent of revenue in 2025.
    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 ↗
  5. Moat Explorer calcWatch the LEAP share of commercial deliveries: seventy-five per cent in 2025.
    Moat Explorer calculation from GE Aerospace's reported figures. Equipment gross margin: sales of equipment less cost of equipment sold was $(314)M in 2022, $(582)M in 2023, $(67)M in 2024 and $(223)M in 2025, about $1.2 billion cumulatively, and about -1.8% of equipment sales in 2025 against -0.7% in 2024. Services gross margin: (18,345-10,836)/18,345 = 40.9% in 2022, 42.4% in 2023, 43.8% in 2024 and (30,163-16,586)/30,163 = 45.0% in 2025. Services RPO of $163,029M against services revenue of $30,163M is 5.4 years, and $163,029M of $190,564M is 86%. LEAP deliveries of 1,570 + 1,407 + 1,802 + 1,030 in the first half of 2026 total 5,809 since the start of 2023. LEAP was 1,802 of 2,386 commercial engines in 2025, 75.5%. — FY2022-FY2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026