A thrust estimator with high precision and excellent real-time performance is needed to mitigate perfor- mance deterioration for future aero-engines. A weight least squares support vector regression is proposed using a novel weighting strategy. Then a thrust estimator based on the proposed regression is designed for the perfor- mance deterioration. Compared with the existing weighting strategy, the novel one not only satisfies the require- ment of precision but also enhances the real-time performance. Finally, numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed weighted least squares support vector regression for thrust estimator. Key words : intelligent engine control; least squares ; support vector machine ; performance deterioration