Steven Udvar-Hazy thinks so. At a RBC Capital Markets event in New York City, the chairman and CEO of Air Lease, set out how the global economic crisis forced competition out of the aircraft leasing space and caused airlines to look to shore up their balances sheets by leasing aircraft rather than owning them. He estimated that the aircraft leasing market could be 40% by 2020 – it is close to that now, and has already reached that figure in the engine leasing market.
His argument is sound and one that is shared by Airline Economicsmagazine. Airlines need new, more fuel-efficient aircraft to cope with rising demand but they also need the flexibility to add and cut capacity as well as cashflow to deal with extra operating expenses. Leasing is the best way to operate in this still volatile environment, and Udvar-Hazy expects ALC to be a key player. At the conference he said that there is room in the industry for about a dozen players with three or four heavyweights – he fully intends Air Lease to be one of those heavyweights.