What actually drives engine value
An engine's worth is not its age — it's the remaining time and cycles to the next performance restoration, plus the life left in its life-limited parts (LLPs). A CFM56-7B with 8,000 cycles of green time and healthy LLP stubs is a liquid, in-demand asset. The same engine at 500 cycles to a $5m shop visit is a core.
That's why the market prices engines off status sheets: last shop visit workscope, EGT margin, LLP list with cycles remaining, AD status and trend data.
Your options when holding green time
- Sell outright — clean exit, best when the engine is near half-life and demand for the type is hot.
- Green-time lease — lease it to an operator who burns the remaining cycles and returns the core. You monetise time you'd never use.
- Exchange — swap your run-out engine plus cash for a serviceable unit; standard way to avoid AOG exposure during shop visits.
- Part-out — when the shop visit exceeds the engine's post-visit value, the LLPs and rotables are worth more than the whole.
Why liquidity beats storage
Every month an unserviceable or uncommitted engine sits on a stand, it accrues storage, insurance and preservation cost while its market moves. The engines that make money are the ones kept visible to the operators, lessors and MROs who need them this quarter — which is exactly what the aircraft.market network is for.