Air Lease Corporation (ALC), a United States-based aircraft leasing company indicated that it granted 59% of its customers’ lease payment deferrals, as the COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of pressure on airline finances.
Nevertheless, ALC managed to raise its Q2 2020 revenues to $521 million, an increase of 10.6% compared to the same quarter in 2019. Its H1 2020 revenues went up by 10.2% to $1 billion, indicated the Los Angeles-based company. It ended Q2 2020 with a net income of $147.6 million, with a half-year result of $284.7 million.
As of August 6, 2020, 59% of the lessor’s customers have asked the company to defer lease payments that were due in Q1 and Q2 in 2020. According to the company’s statement, the requests were handled “on a case-by-case basis,” as generally, airlines accepted a short-term repayment period and will repay Air Lease Corporation in the following 12 months.
“In many cases, lease extensions were also negotiated as part of the deferral accommodations,” read the Q2 2020 financial result announcement.
Throughout the first six months of 2020, the company acquired nine additional aircraft. However, its managed fleet, order backlog, and purchase options were all reduced. It did not exercise its options to take up 25 Airbus A220 and up to 45 Boeing 737 MAX-8 aircraft.
