RTX has raised full-year financial projections across most of its portfolio, citing sustained aftermarket demand bolstering steady rate ramps on current programs.
“As we sit here today ... demand has continued to be resilient,” RTX CEO Chris Calio said of the company’s key commercial aftermarket segment during an Oct. 20 earnings call. “We think it’s durable.
“Again, we’re going to watch all the other things that everyone else is watching as we’re kind of heading into 2027 on jet fuel and the other cost headwinds,” he said. “But if you just step back for a minute and [look] past some of these near-term issues, there are really strong fundamentals that underpin our aftermarket growth.”
The trend is part of strong across-the-board demand for RTX’s broad collection of offerings.
Organic full-year sales are now expected to be up 10-11%—a 2% bump over the most recent guidance, the company said as part of its third quarter (Q3) earnings report. Total adjusted sales are projected at $97.0-97.5 billion.
Collins Aerospace’s full-year sales outlook is now low double-digit growth, the upper end of previous guidance.
Pratt & Whitney’s full-year projection held steady at high single digits.
Within commercial aviation, original equipment (OE) sales, driven primarily by rate ramp-ups within Collins, are slated to grow in the high single-digit range, at the higher end of previous guidance.
Commercial aftermarket sales, driven by increasing PW1000G geared turbofan (GTF) volume, could see low-teens growth, up several points from the most recent outlook.
“Overall, we are very pleased with the continued momentum in our operational performance across the company in Q3,” Calio said. “We also continue to see robust global demand for our products and services and are very well-positioned to meet our growing customer needs across commercial aerospace and defense.”
Collins saw third-quarter sales rise 12% year over year as OE sales jumped 23% while aftermarket was up 9% and defense climbed 7%.
“Everything we have been talking about for the last five years, frankly, about higher OE production, getting good absorption, the aftermarket drop-through, the increased content on the installed base, is coming to fruition. And we got good defense performance as well at really good margins,” CFO Neil Mitchill said.
Pratt saw OE revenues slip 5% year over year while aftermarket sales jumped 21%—16% organically—as engine maintenance demand remained exceptional “despite global [revenue passenger kilometers] declining slightly year over year,” Calio noted.
Military business sales edged up 2%.
“The majority” of aftermarket growth in the third quarter came from the GTF. Total GTF overhauls, including unscheduled visits to inspect parts flagged in the contaminated powder metal fleet management plan, increased 35% year over year, “and that demand’s going to continue to grow,” Calio said.
Pratt does not make GTF shop-visit figures public.
Scheduled GTF shop visits are rising as the fleet matures, helping boost aftermarket sales. Pratt has 80% of the GTF fleet under long-term contracts, and “the vast majority” are pay-at-shop-visit arrangements, Mitchill said.
Legacy platform demand continues to hold up as well. V2500 shop visits remain on pace to total about 800 this year. “We’re still seeing really solid content on the V2500. Q3 was lifted a little bit by particularly strong content on the V program,” Mitchill said.
While V2500 demand will eventually slow, the company sees no sign of a drop-off triggered by current global macroeconomic issues.
Raytheon will lead RTX’s year-over-year sales growth, increasing in the low-teens range, up from high single to low double digits, RTX said.
“We’re increasing munitions output as we improve material flow across the supply chain and drive productivity in our operations,” Calio said. “Year-to-date output across our critical munitions is up over 90% year over year.”
Third-quarter sales were up 14% thanks to volume increases on naval programs as well as land and air defense systems, including Patriot, Standard Missile and Tomahawk, RTX said.
RTX reported third-quarter sales of $25 billion, up 11% year over year—12% organically. Reported income of $2.6 billion, which includes $500 million in acquisition-related adjustments and other non-recurring items, rose 35%.
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