The Certification Nobody Can ShortcutWide moat

GE Aerospace (GE) — moat facet

There are three companies able to build a large commercial turbofan, and the number has not changed in forty years.

The reason so few companies build large commercial turbofans is not that the engineering is secret. It is that the approval is slow, and GE Aerospace says so in its own words: new product development cycles are long, and after initial sale commercial engines can operate for decades with services in the aftermarket.

Research and development, 2025, in $m1,580GE Aerospace funded1,409Customer andpartner funded2,989Total 20252,699Total 2024Customer funding is primarily from the United States Government.
Three companies can certify a large commercial turbofan, and the number has not changed in forty years.

A new engine must be certified by the regulator, and then certified in combination with the airframe it powers, and then every repair procedure, every replacement part and every maintenance interval must be approved as well. The process runs the better part of a decade and consumes several billion dollars before a single engine is sold. GE Aerospace spent $2,989 million on research and development in 2025, of which $1,580 million was its own money and $1,409 million came from customers and partners, primarily the United States Government1.

The testing burden is the visible part. In November 2025 the GEnx high-pressure turbine blade, which has improved time-on-wing more than 2.5 times in hot and harsh environments, surpassed 4,000 cycles; the GE9X has accumulated more than 30,000 cycles of testing including 9,000 endurance cycles, and a second dust ingestion test was launched to prepare it for conditions it will meet years from now2.

What that buys is not a patent. GE Aerospace says so itself: while its intellectual property is important in aggregate, the business is not materially dependent on any single patent or licence3. The barrier is the accumulated, approved, documented body of knowledge about how these specific machines behave — and the regulatory record that goes with it.

It also explains why the company licenses MRO technology to third-party shops and sells them spare parts4. It does not need to own every overhaul. It needs the parts in every overhaul to be its own.

Count the organisations that can do this at all. On the two highest-volume aircraft in the world there are exactly two engine suppliers between them: CFM alone on the Boeing 737 MAX, and CFM and Pratt & Whitney on the Airbus A320neo family5. A credible third supplier on a narrowbody selection would be the first genuine change to that structure.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

No new entrant has certified a large commercial turbofan in forty years, and nothing in the current decade suggests one will. The barrier is regulatory and temporal and neither is eroding. It is also not deepening.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Spare parts revenue growth, latest quarter
Over 25% in Q2 2026

Every part and repair must be certified, which is what keeps the aftermarket GE's. Spare parts growing this fast shows independent suppliers are not taking the volume.

Source: GE Aerospace Q2 2026 earnings release ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
The Parts Business Has an Aftermarket of Its Own
The regulator that protects GE Aerospace's parts also approves somebody else's.
References
  1. ReportedGE Aerospace spent $2,989 million on research and development in 2025, of which $1,580 million was its own money and $1,409 million came from customers and partners, primarily the United States Government.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 general and Item 2 Properties — the installed base of approximately 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military engines and the statement that it supports an aftermarket representing approximately 70% of revenue, the FLIGHT DECK operating model, customers in approximately 120 countries, the facility count, human capital and employee numbers, the intellectual property discussion, the research and development table splitting company-funded from customer- and partner-funded spending, and the engine testing milestones. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedIn November 2025 the GEnx high-pressure turbine blade, which has improved time-on-wing more than 2.5 times in hot and harsh environments, surpassed 4,000 cycles; the GE9X has accumulated more than 30,000 cycles of testing including 9,000 endurance cycles, and a second dust ingestion test was launched to prepare it for conditions it will meet years from now.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 general and Item 2 Properties — the installed base of approximately 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military engines and the statement that it supports an aftermarket representing approximately 70% of revenue, the FLIGHT DECK operating model, customers in approximately 120 countries, the facility count, human capital and employee numbers, the intellectual property discussion, the research and development table splitting company-funded from customer- and partner-funded spending, and the engine testing milestones. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedGE Aerospace says so itself: while its intellectual property is important in aggregate, the business is not materially dependent on any single patent or licence.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 general and Item 2 Properties — the installed base of approximately 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military engines and the statement that it supports an aftermarket representing approximately 70% of revenue, the FLIGHT DECK operating model, customers in approximately 120 countries, the facility count, human capital and employee numbers, the intellectual property discussion, the research and development table splitting company-funded from customer- and partner-funded spending, and the engine testing milestones. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedIt also explains why the company licenses MRO technology to third-party shops and sells them spare parts.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 general and Item 2 Properties — the installed base of approximately 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military engines and the statement that it supports an aftermarket representing approximately 70% of revenue, the FLIGHT DECK operating model, customers in approximately 120 countries, the facility count, human capital and employee numbers, the intellectual property discussion, the research and development table splitting company-funded from customer- and partner-funded spending, and the engine testing milestones. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedOn the two highest-volume aircraft in the world there are exactly two engine suppliers between them: CFM alone on the Boeing 737 MAX, and CFM and Pratt & Whitney on the Airbus A320neo family.
    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 ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026