Aerospace

The engine makers are ramping faster than the airframers

GE Aerospace growth rates, 2026. LEAP powers every 737 MAX and roughly half of A320neo deliveries. Percentages, not unit counts — GE does not publish absolute LEAP deliveries.

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About this data

LEAP deliveries rose 41% in the first half of 2026 and LEAP unit volume rose 24% in Q2 alone, against airframe delivery growth in the low teens. For most of 2023–2025 the constraint on single-aisle output ran the other way: engines, not airframes, were the gate, with completed airframes parked awaiting powerplants. These growth rates suggest that gate is opening, which shifts the binding constraint back onto the airframers’ own final assembly, structures suppliers and certification queues. Two important limits on this chart. First, GE publishes growth percentages and not absolute LEAP unit counts, so the base is unknown. Second, Pratt & Whitney’s GTF, which powers the other half of the A320neo book and remains the subject of the powder-metal inspection programme, publishes no comparable figure — it is omitted rather than estimated, so this chart measures one of the two engine families.

The engine makers are ramping faster than the airframers

The engine makers are ramping faster than the airframers

GE Aerospace growth rates, 2026. LEAP powers every 737 MAX and roughly half of A320neo deliveries. Percentages, not unit counts — GE does not publish absolute LEAP deliveries.

View data & sources →

Data table

The engine makers are ramping faster than the airframers — engine_throughput data table (Narrowbody Deliveries: Can the Duopoly Build What It Sold?)
pct metric series source_ref value_basis
41 LEAP deliveries, H1 2026 engine_throughput ge-q2-2026 "LEAP deliveries up 41%" for the first half of 2026; GE does not publish absolute LEAP unit counts
24 LEAP units, Q2 2026 engine_throughput ge-q2-2026 Q2 equipment revenue commentary: "unit volume up 26%, including LEAP up 24%"
26 Total unit volume, Q2 2026 engine_throughput ge-q2-2026 Same passage: total equipment unit volume up 26%
30 CES equipment revenue, Q2 2026 engine_throughput ge-q2-2026 Commercial Engines & Services equipment revenue growth, Q2 2026

Methodology & sources

Last updated: Aug 14, 2026

Methodology

This index answers one question: the single-aisle duopoly has sold roughly a decade of production it has not built — can it build it? Every chart isolates one input to that answer: how deep the queue is, which way it is moving, what rates have been announced against it, what is actually coming off the lines, and whether the engine makers are keeping up. SCOPE. Single-aisle programmes only: A320neo family, A220, 737 MAX and the residual 737 NG book. Twin-aisle figures appear only where they are needed as a denominator (the June output-mix chart). BASIS — BACKLOG COMPARISON. The June source reports the Boeing 737 backlog as one combined line (4,888); the July source splits it into MAX (4,817) and NG (34). The July value in the month-on-month chart is the sum, 4,851, so both months sit on the same basis. That addition is stated in the value_basis of the point. It is arithmetic on two published figures, not an estimate. CAVEAT — TARGETS ARE NOT RATES. Every value in the rate-target chart is a stated management target with a future date, not an approved or achieved rate. Airbus has announced 70-75 A320-family aircraft a month by end-2027 and 13 A220s a month in 2028. Boeing has named 52 a month as the step beyond the 47 it began transitioning to in Q2 2026, with NO published FAA approval and no timetable. For scale, the 2025 realised monthly averages were 50.6 (A320 family), 37.3 (737) and 7.8 (A220). No single-aisle programme at either company has ever run at its own stated target rate. CAVEAT — ENGINES, ONE FAMILY ONLY. GE Aerospace publishes LEAP delivery GROWTH percentages and does not publish absolute LEAP unit counts, so the engine chart is in percent and the base is unknown. Pratt & Whitney GTF delivery counts, which cover the other half of the A320neo book, were sought and not found in a citable primary release; they are OMITTED rather than estimated. Read that chart as evidence about one engine family, not about total narrowbody engine supply. CAVEAT — ONE MONTH IS NOT A TREND. The June-to-July backlog movement and the June output-mix split are single-month observations. July is an order-announcement-heavy month in this industry. They are shown because they are cleanly sourced and directional, not because one month establishes a rate. SOURCE TIERS. Company primary disclosure (Airbus, Boeing, GE Aerospace) is used wherever the figure exists there. Monthly backlog splits are not published in that form by either OEM and come from a trade compilation; the Boeing year-to-date figure from that compilation reconciles exactly against Boeing’s own quarterly releases (143 + 171 + 53 = 367), which is the corroboration standard applied. SUPERSEDES. This index absorbs and extends the three H1-2026 sections of /data/airbus-vs-boeing, which remains live so no URL is lost. Compiled and verified 2026-08-14. Working sheet with every source passage: Topics_Content/data/batch-6_aerospace_2026-08-14.md

Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.

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