
Yet Another Value Podcast Carriage House's Will Cleary on $FTAI
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Mar 9, 2026 Will Cleary, an investment professional at Carriage House Fund focused on concentrated value investing, discusses FTAI Aviation’s transformation into a vertically integrated engine maintenance and module-swap platform. He covers how module swaps cut time and cost, FTAI’s feedstock and network effects, the Strategic Capital Initiative, responses to a short report, valuation thinking, and repurposing engines into turbines for data centers.
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Vertical Integration Created A High‑Margin Engine Platform
- FTAI built a vertically integrated platform combining engine ownership and in-house maintenance to create a high-margin aftermarket engine business.
- The platform buys run-out engines, repairs them, and offers sales, leases, or module swaps, transforming leasing into an aerospace products franchise.
Module Swaps Slash Time And Cost For Airlines
- Module swaps cut turnaround from months to weeks and reduce shop-visit costs from about $7M to ~$4.5M by addressing only the worn module instead of full teardown.
- FTAI keeps refurbished modules in inventory, overnight-delivers replacements, and repairs returned modules to resell.
Inventory Feedstock Creates Durable Competitive Moat
- FTAI enjoys network effects because it accumulated diverse run‑out modules and engines, enabling it to recombine parts into marketable units faster than new entrants.
- Building that feedstock required ~ $2B of capital, creating a high barrier to replication for competitors.
