Founded in 2010, Los Angeles, CA-based Air Lease Corporation is a leading aircraft leasing company. It is primarily involved in purchasing commercial aircraft directly from the manufacturers, leasing the same to its airline customers across the globe. Some noteworthy manufacturers that the company works with are The Boeing Company and Airbus S.A.S.

Besides leasing, the company sells planes from its portfolio to third parties such as other leasing companies, financial services and corporate airline entities. It also provides investors and owners with fleet management services and charges a management fee in return. The company faces competition from aircraft manufacturers, banks, financial institutions, other leasing companies, aircraft brokers and airlines. Air Lease reduces the risks of lessee defaults and adverse economic conditions by diversifying its operating lease portfolio.

The company’s operating performance depends on growth of its fleet, the terms of its leases, interest rates on its debt and the aggregate amount of its indebtedness alongside gains from aircraft sales, trading activities and management fees.

Air Lease currently covers more than 200 airlines across 70 countries. It has markets in all major geographies, namely Asia, the Pacific Rim, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America. The company expects to benefit from significant replacement opportunities going forward as many of its airline customers look to replace their old planes with new, modern and more fuel efficient ones.

The company’s debt financing strategy, used for funding its business activities, is aimed at raising unsecured debt with minimal usage of export credit or any other secured financing variant.

The company entered into a joint venture with Blackbird Capital I LLC in 2014 and owns 9.5% of the joint venture. The collaboration is aimed at supplementing the growth of the company.

Air Lease is constantly making efforts to expand its fleet. It has multiple owned and managed aircraft in its portfolio. The company’s total revenues increased 15.9% year over year to $2.68 billion in 2023. Revenues from rentals of flight equipment accounted for bulk (92.3%) of the top line. Remaining revenues came from aircraft sales, trading and other sources. The company’s fiscal year coincides with the calendar year