FARNBOROUGH — Steven Udvar-Hazy, whose reputation in the commercial aviation industry is near-legendary, pushed to the forefront at the Farnborough Air Show, with the launch of an ambitious new leasing venture and an large narrowbody order to match.
Udvar-Hazy, who was temporarily sidelined by the travails of bailout recipient AIG, parent company of the International Lease Finance Corporation, which he began in 1973, placed an order for 30 Airbus A320s and 21 A321s for the newly launched Air Lease Corporation (ALC) with former ILFC president John Plueger.
Day One of the Farborough, illustrated the rebounding economy, with a day that held more resemblance to the better days of 2007 and 2008 than the year just endured, but strong questions remain about the evenness of the recovery. North America and Europe are significantly lagging behind emerging markets in Asia and South America, clouding the picture for a full global recovery.
At the first day of the Farnborough Air Show, ALC’s order was mirrored by GECAS placed an order for 100 aircraft, split between 60 A320s and 40 737s. The strong influence of lessors at this show, may indicate a stronger trend toward third parties assuming greater risk for airlines amidst an industry with an outlook whose uncertainty is its only constant.
Before the week is out, we are virtually certain to see a North American lessor to order the first batch of western Superjets, primarily to put a safety buffer in between the airlines and the aircraft in case it doesn’t perform.
Additionally, Udvar-Hazy suggested that we’d be hearing from ALC later in the show, with strong hints that a 737 or turboprop order was in the offing, adding that this was only the first round of portfolio growth of the nascent lessor.
Day One Order Tally:
Airbus:
Aeroflot – 11 x A330-300
Air Lease Corp – 31 x A320, 20 x A321
GECAS – 60 x A320
Total – 91 x A320, 20 x A321, 11 x A330Boeing:
Emirates – 12 x 777-300ER (30 total, 18 were previously ordered this year as an unidentified customer)
GECAS – 40 x 737-800
Norwegian Air Shuttle – 15 x 737-800 (exercise of purchase rights)
Total – 55 x 787-800, 12 x 777-300ERBombardier:
Qatar Airways – 2 x G5000 Business Jets, 1 x Challenger 605
Total – 2 x G5000, 1 x Challenger 605Sukhoi:
Kartika Airlines – 30 SSJ-100 Super Jets
Total – 30 x SSJ-100Compiled by Uresh Sheth
News Wrap:
- Kartika intends to build 160-strong fleet
- CFM to certify step decrease in 737 fuel burn by end July
- GECAS orders 60 A320s and 40 737-800s
- Norwegian leans towards 787 for long-haul
- Airliner markets return, but only slowly
- Bombardier quiet on new CSeries orders as engine tests start
- Azul orders five more Embraer 195s
- Indonesia’s Kartika firms 30 Superjets
- Dassault certificates Falcon 900LX
- Aeroflot firms A330-300 order
- New lessor ALC orders 51 Airbus narrowbodies
- Two Asian carriers take winglets on 90 737s
- Emirates orders 30 more 777-300ERs
- A400M arrives after first photo-call with RAF peers
- Boeing boosts forecast but remains downbeat on very large aircraft demand
- P&WC starts work on advanced turboprop for regional airliners
- Leahy predicts Airbus will double year-to-date orders tally
- F-35 buoyed by Canadian commitment, but top buyer no-shows
- Etihad prepares to receive first A330 freighter
- Aero Sekur displays integrated survival solutions
- Messier-Bugatti plans demonstration of electric taxi concept
- C919 is biggest threat since MDC disappeared: Boeing
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.