Here is my stupid question.

Eagle

New Member
Do the airlines (Part 121) outright own their aircraft?
or
Do they lease some or all of them?
 
I would love to know how they make the choice when to buy when to lease, and I have litte doubt the leased ones are the first to sit when they cut back routes.

Leasing for the manufactures I suppose?

Nice swept wing btw.
 
Much like an individuals personal finances, the more you own, the better of you are financially. That's why the airlines that own their fleets tend to do better than the ones that lease (ahem...).
 
If you facing finnanical difficulty it's better to retire/sell your owned aircraft. Leased aircraft are newer and generally cheaper to operate, and even if you park it you still have to make payments. Look at what United has done, flying the A320 more hours per day and retiring the 727.
 
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If you facing finnanical difficulty it's better to retire/sell your owned aircraft. Leased aircraft are newer and generally cheaper to operate, and even if you park it you still have to make payments. Look at what United has done, flying the A320 more hours per day and retiring the 727.

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United is hardly an appropriate example of a financially succesful airline.....choose another....lol.
 
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Much like an individuals personal finances, the more you own, the better of you are financially. That's why the airlines that own their fleets tend to do better than the ones that lease (ahem...).



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I would beg to differ - with the tax advantage of leasing, and the rapid depreciate schedule you can use, it is easy to see why many airlines lease to purchase.

Leased aircraft are very unlikely to sit in the desert - leasing is a non cancellable agreement, if they are sitting in the desert they still have to pay for them.

I theink IFLC (or something like that) is the big aircraft leasing company, but I know JP Morgan Chase has a division, as I am sure do many companies.

It might also be of interest - that the leases are generally airframe only, I once heard most engines were owned by japanese banks.
 
From what I have heard each aircraft company gives incentives for buying. The latest example I heard was that JetBlue ( I think) leases all their aircraft with warranties. The warranty covers all maintance and therefore JetBlue doesn't actually outrightly employ a maintance team, they are all leased staff.
 
Yes, ILFC (International Lease Finance Corp.) is the big player in the airliner leasing game, but there are other outfits out there ... Boeing Capital and several others.

The Chairman of ILFC is Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy, the guy the new Smithsonian Annex at IAD is named for. He was also the speaker at my ERAU graduation ... but his speech was terminally boring! The next semester got Gordon Bethune (Continental's CEO), who was supposedly very entertaining and informative. Oh well ...

FL270
 
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From what I have heard each aircraft company gives incentives for buying. The latest example I heard was that JetBlue ( I think) leases all their aircraft with warranties. The warranty covers all maintance and therefore JetBlue doesn't actually outrightly employ a maintance team, they are all leased staff.

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Actually, a good portion of their planes are outright owned. A quick check of some of N numbers will verify that the owner is JetBlue Airways Corporation.
 
There's a good mix for most airlines. Some are leased, some are owned. I don't have the specifics here but I can probably get that data when I get to work tomorrow. If I have a few minutes, I'll look for it and post it here. It would be interesting to see!
 
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