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Air Lease Corp. (ALC, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) has signed a letter of intent (LoI) covering all Airbus (Toulouse, France) Families. The agreement including 25 A220-300s, 55 A321neos, 20 A321XLRs four A330neos and seven A350Fs. The order, which will be finalized in the coming months, reportedly makes ALC one of Airbus’ largest customers and lessor with the biggest A220 order book. Founded in 2010, ALC has ordered a total of 496 Airbus aircraft to date.

With this order, ALC and Airbus are also launching a multi-million dollar ESG fund initiative that will contribute towards investment into sustainable aviation development projects that, in the future, will be available to multiple stakeholders from the aircraft leasing and financing community and beyond.

“This new order announcement is the culmination of many months of hard work and dedication by both organizations to optimize and fine-tune the size and scope of this large aircraft transaction in view of the rapidly growing global airline demand to modernize their jet fleets through the ALC leasing medium,” says Steven F Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of ALC. “After lengthy and detailed consultations with several dozens of our strategic airline customers around the world, we are focusing this comprehensive order on the most desirable and in-demand aircraft types, covering the A220, A321neo, A330neo and A350 families. These multi-year additions of new technology aircraft assets to ALC’s expanding portfolio will allow us to grow our revenues and profitability while satisfying our airline customer requirements.”

Moreover, according to  John Plueger, ALC CEO and president, the major order underscores the company’s confidence in the strong future and growth of global commercial air transport, as well as in ALC’s business model and its aircraft purchasing decisions.

“This is a major announcement for Airbus in 2021. ALC’s order signals we’re moving beyond the COVID-19 doldrums,” adds Christian Scherer, Airbus chief commercial officer and head of Airbus International. “ALC’s endorsement confirms the global enthusiasm we see for this quantum leap in the freighter space [see “Airbus foresees demand for 39,000 new passenger, freighter aircraft by 2040”]. In addition we agreed to make our sustainable aviation vision part of this agreement which is a priority for us both.”