GE’s Culp sees travel pushing aerospace sales to $40 billion

General Electric Co.’s aerospace business could eventually see annual revenue soar above $40 billion thanks to strong demand for air travel and airlines snapping up new planes to modernize their fleets, its top executive said.

Those tailwinds, in addition to rising sales at GE’s military aviation business, put the company on track for mid to high single-digit percentage rates of growth “for some time,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said Tuesday in an interview with David Westin on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week. 

“We’re really on a record pace,” Culp said, elaborating on long-term growth targets for the division GE released in March.  

The view underscores air travel’s post-pandemic resurgence and how airlines are logging huge new-aircraft orders to freshen their fleets. It also highlights Culp’s expectations for continued momentum at GE Aerospace after it becomes a standalone company early next year following the planned spinoff of GE’s energy related businesses. 

Culp’s plan to turn the once-sprawling conglomerate into a pure-play aerospace manufacturer has renewed investor interest. GE has soared more than 70% in 2023 while the S&P 500 Index gained about 17% in the same period.

GE has said booming demand for jet engines and maintenance services at GE Aerospace, which generates the majority of the broader company’s profits, should help it more than double earnings this year.

The unit, which primarily manufacturers and services jet engines, last exceeded $30 billion in sales in 2019, just before the pandemic brought air travel to a near standstill. It’s since seen growth jump into high gear, with sales last year rising 23% to $26 billion.