The story
Steven Udvar-Házy, chairman and chief executive of Air Lease, was a founder of Century City, CA-based aircraft leasing giant International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) and stayed on as chief executive after it was sold to American International Group (AIG) in 1990. Udvar-Házy left ILFC to start Air Lease in 2010 following a dispute with AIG.
Udvar-Házy started Air Lease in February 2010 with former ILFC chief operating officer John Plueger, who has the same role at the new company. On April 19, 2011, AL had an initial public offering of Class A stock on the New York Stock Exchange, and raised an estimated total of US$965.6 million.Udvar-Hazy, estimated by Forbes in 2015 to have a net worth of $3.7 billion, has a 7 percent stake.
Aircraft leasing
At the 2019 Paris Air Show Virgin Atlantic signed a deal for up to 20 Airbus A330-900 aircraft making it the first UK customer for the aircraft. Eight aircraft will come directly from Airbus, six from Air Lease Corporation and it has options on a further six aircraft. They will replace older Airbus A330-200s and -300s and deliveries are expected from September 2021 to 2024.
At the same venue Air Lease Corporation signed a deal for 29 Airbus A321XLR aircraft, as well as a letter of intent for 50 Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
Acquisition
On September 2, 2025, Air Lease announced that it is expected to be acquired by a consortium of Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo, and Brookfield, for approximately US$ 7.4 billion with stockholders receiving $65 per share. The acquisition was closed in April 2026 at which point Air Lease Corporation was renamed Sumisho Air Lease Corporation.
From Wikipedia’s article on Air Lease Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6