Air France-KLM is discussing the delivery of new aircraft with International Lease Finance founder Steven Udvar-Hazy's new venture, Air Lease.
According to the carrier's chief financial officer Philippe Calavia, the group has had a long-term relationship with Hazy during his time with ILFC. "Of course we are comfortable working with him. We are in negotiations to organise the financing of some aircraft - most likely 777s or narrowbodies," Calavia says.
Air Lease will be able to provide attractive terms, believes Calavia, who says that Hazy "has raised a big amount of funds, found investors ready to back him and received the support of banks."
However, he believes Air Lease will inevitably be a different animal than ILFC: "It will be at a lower pace and scale compared to when ILFC had the support of AIG."
Udvar-Hazy co-founded ILFC in 1973 and stayed at the helm after selling the company to the now-troubled insurer AIG in 1990, ultimately building it into a giant of the aircraft leasing business, owing more than 900 aircraft and rivalled only by GECAS.
He retired earlier this year from ILFC, which remains subject to ongoing sale or break-up speculation following AIG's near bankruptcy and a US Treasury bailout in 2008.
Source: Flight International
