GE Aerospace opened 2026 with $23.0 billion in orders, up 87 percent year over year, and adjusted revenue of $11.6 billion, up 29 percent. [1] Adjusted EPS grew 25 percent to $1.86; free cash flow rose 14 percent to $1.7 billion. Backlog closed at over $210 billion, with the commercial services book alone at $170 billion — up nearly $30 billion since year-end 2024. The paper's Tuesday pre-print brief flagged services as the expected tailwind. The print over-delivered on the backlog.

Commercial Engines & Services was the quarter. CES orders of $17.3 billion were up 93 percent, with services orders up 49 percent and equipment orders more than tripling. [2] CES revenue of $8.9 billion grew 34 percent; services revenue within CES rose 39 percent, driven by internal shop-visit revenue up 35 percent and spare-parts revenue up more than 25 percent. Total engine deliveries across the company climbed 43 percent, including a 63 percent rise in LEAP units. [1] The commercial wins announced in the quarter added more than 650 engines to the book — American Airlines took over 300 LEAP-1A engines, United Airlines took 300 GEnx for a growing 787 fleet, and Ryanair signed a long-term materials agreement covering roughly 2,000 CFM56 and LEAP engines.

The aftermarket is running hotter than the supply chain can meet. CFO Rahul Ghai told analysts spare-parts orders are up more than 30 percent year over year, even after spare-parts revenue has grown more than 25 percent over the past five quarters. Delinquency — orders in the system but not yet filled — has risen about 70 percent since year-end 2024. [3] The 1Q'26 presentation shows material input from priority suppliers up double-digits sequentially, a lever Ghai described as the binding constraint on converting orders to revenue.

Defense & Propulsion Technologies posted the quieter lever. DPT orders rose 67 percent — what CEO H. Lawrence Culp called "record defense orders for this decade." DPT revenue grew 20 percent and engine deliveries increased 50 percent. The segment sits inside the same dynamic as RTX's Raytheon unit: backlog is the story, and the backlog is being placed at a multi-year horizon. [2]

The single overhang GE named was the Iran war. The company cut its 2026 global departures assumption to "flat to low-single-digit growth" from its prior mid-single-digit expectation, citing Middle East conflict disruption to routes. [4] It held full-year guidance — low-double-digit revenue growth, operating profit of $9.85–$10.25 billion, adjusted EPS of $5.65–$5.80 — and told analysts the quarter trends support the high end. The backlog protects the P&L against the departures slip; the departures slip reminds the audience the war has a real macro lever.

GE Aerospace is a post-spin-off company entering its second full year as a standalone. The services cycle is at or near its peak aftermarket intensity. The 87 percent orders number is the loudest print of the week; the $170 billion services backlog is the durable one.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco