The well-documented contaminated powdered metal issues found within Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan (GTF) engines — and continues to contend with to this day — has created an opening for GE and Safran's LEAP engine, said Bloomberg Intelligence analysts George Ferguson and Melissa Balzano.
On the A320 family aircraft, the LEAP engine has gained 11 percentage points of market share from the GTF engine since 2020. As of May 19, 2025, the GTF's total in-service share was 24% versus LEAP's 76%, while 37% versus 63% for the A320 family specifically. In addition to the contaminated powdered metal issue, the GTF has faced a host of other issues impacting its durability.
However, the analysts said: “The LEAP has had issues too, including fuel-nozzle coking and blade corrosion. News of a LEAP coming off wing at 14,000 hours for maintenance underscores the challenges facing the latest-gen engines, as predecessors flew for 24,000 hours or more before needing servicing.”
The report added that Pratt & Whitney is “less than halfway” through its inspections of the GTF engine.
“Among A320neo family jets with pre-2022 PW1000G engines, we identified 946 that meet criteria for inspection, above Pratt's September 2023 update of 600-700 incremental shop visits,” the report read.
The analysts said of these 946 required for inspection, around 175 aircraft are expected to have completed inspections with shop visits averaging 334 days, according to the research. Another 250 are still in process with shop visits averaging 430 days.
The report said: "This implies 150-200 aircraft have yet to start inspections, if Pratt's estimates are correct.”