International Lease Finance Corporation

The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) is an aircraft lessor headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It is the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General Electric's GECAS unit, has more aircraft. It leases Boeing and Airbus aircraft to airlines worldwide, including Air Canada, Air Transat, Air France-KLM, Aegean Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Air India, Continental Airlines, Mexicana, Emirates Ai... more

The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) is an aircraft lessor headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It is the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General Electric's GECAS unit, has more aircraft. It leases Boeing and Airbus aircraft to airlines worldwide, including Air Canada, Air Transat, Air France-KLM, Aegean Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Air India, Continental Airlines, Mexicana, Emirates Airline, Vietnam Airlines, Vueling Airlines and most recently, Delta Air Lines. Father and son team Leslie Gonda and Louis L. Gonda founded ILFC in 1973 along with Steven F. Udvar-Hazy. The company was acquired by international insurance giant AIG in 1990, although the unit is still run by Udvar-Hazy. At the beginning of 2005, ILFC had an inventory of 824 aircraft (per AvSoft/The Wall Street Journal.) According to Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine (August 6, 2007) as of August 2007, ILFC had an inventory of more than 900 aircraft... less