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co-located with
ELTF Americas
The Westin Kierland,
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
January 19-21, 2027
co-located with
ELTF Americas
The Westin Kierland,
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
January 19-21, 2027
Thank you for attending this year's Aero-Engines & ELTF Americas conference. We hope you enjoyed the event and are already implementing key takeaways.
| Opening Remarks from Aviation Week Network
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Forecast: Fleet Outlook & Engine Leasing Market Dynamics
An update on US macro-economic conditions, tied into the drivers of the engine leasing market. This forecast covers engines and aircraft deliveries, asset performance and valuations.
The Road Ahead For Engines- Trends, Risks, and Opportunities for 2026 From the growing demand for next-technology engines to the lingering reliance on mature technology, key players are navigating a landscape that is both dynamic and uncertain. What does the future of the engine market look like and what are the most significant risks facing the market today? How are engine lessors not only balancing their portfolios but growing them in alignment with the evolving needs of airlines and the secondary market? What are the emerging trends in lease rate fluctuations for mature versus next-generation engines? How are financing models in the engine leasing market shifting, including new structures, ABS, debt financing and standalone engine collateral? Are any risk mitigation strategies proving to be particularly effective?
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Fireside Chat: Voice of the Lessor
Asset Valuations- Impact of Durability and New Technologies The valuation landscape is being reshaped by durability concerns and technological progress. What strategies can lessors and investors employ to mitigate valuation risks over the next decade? To what extent are the new performance improvement packages (PIPs) affecting portfolio construction? What evaluation metrics are being used between first generation engines vs newer iteration e.g. GTF vs GTF Advantage? What insights can be drawn from past valuation cycles? Additionally, how are airlines and lessors navigating the tension between soaring asset costs and their operational requirements?
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Aeroxchange Hosted Session: Redefining Engine Trading Through Digital Innovation
Engine trading is a highly complex activity, frequently constrained by fragmented stakeholder communication, inconsistent and incomplete technical documentation, engine pedigree validation requirements, and challenges related to data structuring and security. This session will examine how digital innovations can address these constraints by enabling streamlined communication, greater process standardization, and improved transaction time across the engine trading lifecycle. It will also assess the extent to which digital solutions can enhance engine portfolio visibility and transparency, and how these capabilities differentiate next generation platforms from existing engine trading marketplaces.
Opportunities Unlocking Value in Smaller Engine Fleets What opportunities exist for lessors/investors in the alternative engine market for regional jet engines and mature engine models? For example, what is the outlook for the CF6, CF34, AE3007, PW100, PW2000 and PW4000? How are lessors managing credit quality and asset value risks in alternative engine investments? What are the implications of the current supply and demand dynamics on engine valuations?
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Navigating Lease Returns: Costs, Conditions, and Market Trends
Rising lease rates and limited asset availability are reshaping the end-of-lease landscape, a surge in mature asset retirements is looming. What does the influx of end-of-lease returns mean for Sale and Leaseback rates and market dynamics? What strategies are lessors/airlines employing to streamline lease returns and manage records effectively and to what extent could digitalization streamline this process? How are technical requirements evolving in end-of-lease agreements?
Closing Remarks from Aviation Week Network
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| Opening Remarks from Aviation Week Network
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Opening Keynote from Chromalloy: Navigating Today’s Engine Maintenance Landscape: Exploring Solutions in an Evolving Aftermarket
Today’s aviation landscape presents an unprecedented convergence of challenges across legacy, midlife, and next‑generation engine platforms —all requiring concurrent capacity and capabilities. The industry faces simultaneous pressure to maintain older assets, support maturing fleets, and prepare for the future at a time when capacity, labor, and material constraints continue to tighten. Chromalloy CEO Chris Celtruda will explore ways operators, lessors, and MRO partners are adapting, innovating, and investing to stay ahead in this demanding environment.
Presentation: Aviation Week Network Market Forecast An exclusive insight into the outputs from Aviation Week’s 2026 Fleet and MRO Forecast. Updating you on critical market trends in the Americas including shop visit forecasts, utilization and fleet deliveries. |
The Power of Partnership- Transforming Aviation Challenges into Strategic Wins
The aviation industry continues to experience turbulence with supply chain challenges, parts shortages, workforce pressures and operational uncertainty. We will explore how key stakeholders have turned challenges into opportunities by leveraging collaboration, innovation and strategic planning to thrive in an increasingly fluid market. How are maintenance (e.g. hospital shop visit vs full overhaul) and procurement strategies (e.g. insourcing/nearshoring) evolving to address ongoing supply chain disruptions and ensure operational continuity? How are airlines, MROs, OEMs, and lessors working together to improve communication and align priorities to address both current and future maintenance demand?
Ramco Systems Hosted Session: AI-Powered Smart Engine Shops- Optimizing Capacity, People, and Parts AI-powered Smart Engine Shops transform engine MRO by intelligently orchestrating capacity, workforce, and parts. With predictive planning, digital task cards, automated job sequencing, and real-time visibility, AI drives measurable gains in throughput and turnaround time. This session highlights how incremental digital improvements deliver significant efficiency and reliability across engine maintenance operations.
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Evolution of Propulsion- Program Updates and Market Considerations
As the aviation industry transitions to next-gen platforms which are poised to redefine operational efficiency, questions remain about the durability and cost-effectiveness of some of these platforms. What specific improvements are expected from the engine performance improvement packages such as; GTF Advantage, GTF Hot Section Plus, LEAP improvements, RISE program, and UltraFan? What’s next in engine development and how might these new programs influence operator's fleet planning, aircraft OEM future designs, the aftermarket and MRO landscape? What does this mean for the MRO transition and the potential acceleration of moving away from mature fleets?
The Future of Material Sourcing in Aviation- Balancing Cost, Availability, and Innovation From new parts to USM, PMA and repair innovations, this session will examine the strategies being employed to address material challenges and maintain asset availability. How are key stakeholders' material purchasing strategies changing? How have parts repair providers improved their turnaround time and what investments in parts repair capabilities have they made? What role does repair development play in addressing durability challenges for LEAP and GTF engines? How are attitudes to the use of PMA parts evolving?
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Closing Remarks from Aviation Week Network
Opening Remarks from Aviation Week Network
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Presentation: Aviation Week Data Blast- Retirements
With a slow supply chain and OEM production issues, aircraft retirements have slowed dramatically over the past few years. Take a quick look at Aviation Week Network’s retirement forecast with a backdrop of a historical perspective. See the degree of impact these changes have created in the market.
The Juniority Dilemma- How Aviation Can Close the Skills Gap With skilled labor shortages continuing to constrain capacity in 2026 and with fleets growing worldwide, the industry's "juniority problem" requires new and renewed focus. Where are the talent gaps and what are we doing to alleviate them? How are organizations addressing the knowledge transfer challenge with rising employee retirements and what role can technology play in accelerating training and knowledge transfer? How are educational partnerships evolving to better align training with industry needs? What initiatives or workplace reforms are proving successful to attract, retain and develop skilled workers, incentivize local talent or even draw back lost local talent? Can aviation learn from other industries facing similar workforce challenges?
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Fireside Chat: Voice of the Airline - Mastering the Mixed Fleet Balancing Act
As airlines across the US operate increasingly mixed fleets of mature and next-generation engines, optimizing maintenance resources, spare engine allocation, and technical expertise has become a critical challenge. Hear directly from Southwest Airlines on what they are doing to future proof their maintenance strategies as retirement horizons extend. How do you see the balance between mature and next-generation engine maintenance evolving over the next five years and what are the biggest challenges associated with the transition?
From Data to Decisions- AI in Engine Maintenance Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming engine maintenance, from predictive analytics to automated inspections. While AI promises to reduce costs and improve efficiency, questions remain about its real-world impact and adoption challenges. To what extent is AI having tangible results and what are the biggest barriers to AI adoption in engine maintenance? How could AI be used to determine an optimal engine removal schedule or predict which parts will require repairs?
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Closing Remarks from Aviation Week Network and End of Conference