At an event held earlier today at the Dubai Airshow, Air Lease Corporation (ALC) confirmed the first order for the Airbus A350F. The lessor will receive the first of seven orders in 2026.
In addition, the company closed agreements to purchase 25 A220-300s, 55 A321neo, 20 A321XLRs and 4 A330neo.
With this order, ALC and Airbus launch a multi-million dollar ESG fund initiative that will contribute to investment in sustainable aviation development projects that will, in the future, be open to multiple stakeholders from the aircraft leasing and financing community and beyond.
«The announcement of this new order is the culmination of many months of hard work and dedication by both organizations to optimize and refine the size and scope of this large aircraft transaction in light of the rapidly growing demand from global airlines to modernize their aircraft fleets through the LAC leasing medium,» said Steven F Udvar-Hazy, Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
«After lengthy and detailed consultations with several dozen of our strategic airline customers around the world, we are focusing this broad order on the most desired and in-demand aircraft types, spanning the A220, A321neo, A330neo and A350 families.»
«ALC is the international market leader in each of these categories of Airbus’ most modern product range. These multi-year additions of new technology aircraft assets to ALC’s growing portfolio will enable us to increase our revenues and profitability while meeting the needs of our airline customers.»
Udvar-Hazy added: «ALC was the launch customer for the highly popular A321LR and XLR versions. Now, we become the launch lessor of the A350F and by far the largest lessor customer for the A220. We had the vision to be the early adopter of the A321 and we are convinced that we have again made the right decision with the A220 and A350F, responding to what we see the market will need in the recovery period ahead. In addition, we are very excited to have signed a partnership for a sustainability fund that will contribute to the green future of our industry.»
«With this important order, we underscore our confidence not only in the strong future and growth of global commercial air transportation, but in ALC’s business model, in our specific aircraft purchasing decisions, including, for the first time, the new A350 Freighter, and, finally, in our long-term view that new aircraft orders are an optimal investment of our equity capital,» said John Plueger, CEO and President of Air Lease Corporation. «In addition, we and Airbus hereby announce the first joint ESG initiative in aircraft procurement, creating a multi-million dollar fund for sustainable aviation development projects critical to the future.»
«This is a major announcement for Airbus in 2021. The ALC order signals that we are moving beyond the Covid stalemate. With foresight, ALC is solidifying its order book for the most desirable aircraft types as we emerge from the downturn and, in particular, has seen the formidable value that the A350F brings to the cargo market. ALC’s endorsement confirms the global enthusiasm we see for this quantum leap in the freighter space and we applaud their insight in selecting it and getting ahead of everyone else in announcing the first A350F order. In addition, we have agreed to make our vision of sustainable aviation part of this deal, which is a priority for both of us,» said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International.
The A350F, based on the world’s most modern long-range leader and optimized for cargo operations, offers at least 20% lower fuel consumption than the competition and is the only new-generation freighter aircraft ready for ICAO’s 2027 CO2 emissions standards.
