The Physical Renaissance

On July 20, 2026, at the Farnborough International Airshow, India’s IndiGo signed a memorandum of understanding for what would be the largest engine order in the fifty-two-year history of CFM International, the joint venture of GE Aerospace and France’s Safran: more than 1,000 LEAP-1A turbofans to power 510 Airbus A320neo-family aircraft. Four days earlier, GE Aerospace had raised its full-year outlook on every line behind 22 percent services-order growth. And through that same July, hundreds of jets sat parked worldwide for want of engines from the rival manufacturer. The commercial jet engine is among the most ordered industrial machines on earth and one of the scarcest, and the money in that contradiction flows through a repair economy most passengers never see. Who pays, who collects, and how long it holds are the subjects of this edition.