Offers Finance Options For Various Manufacturers' Engines

GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) announced this week its engine leasing unit signed 120 new engine lease agreements in 2008, which works out to about 10 placements per month.

"At the end of our 10th anniversary year, we have grown to a portfolio of some 350 owned and managed engines," said Julie Dickerson, general manager GECAS Engine Leasing. "But we couldn't have done it without our 140 airline customers around the world and a talented group of employees."

The engine leasing unit started in 1998 as a trial venture within of GE Aviation. A team of four people in the basement of one of the buildings in GE's main plant in Evendale, OH, was charged with creating a bigger pool of rental engines that could be offered to customers whose engines were undergoing maintenance overhauls.

In only three months, the group purchased $100 million of spare engines and realized that a partnership with GECAS could enable faster growth and customer financing. GE's Engine Leasing unit operated as a joint venture between GECAS and GE Engine Services until 2005 when it fully became a unit of GECAS.

Today, GECAS Engine Leasing offers a full range of operational and financial services, including short-term rentals, guaranteed spare engine availability, engine exchanges, operating leases (including sale/leaseback), and structured, long-term finance options on engines from GE, CFMI, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and IAE.

"Despite challenging economic conditions, we expect airlines will lease more of their spare engines in 2009 instead of choosing the more capital-intensive ownership option," Dickerson added.

FMI: www.ge.com