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Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- International Lease Finance Corp., the plane-leasing company owned by American International Group Inc., is ``keeping its powder dry for opportunities'' after borrowing $6.5 billion last month, the unit's chief operating officer said.
ILFC, the biggest customer for Airbus SAS, will keep leasing planes as AIG looks for a buyer for the division, COO John Plueger told an audience of 500 aircraft buyers and financiers today at a conference in Prague.
ILFC asked its lenders for cash on Sept. 16, the day AIG agreed to a federal takeover to avoid collapse tied to U.S. home loans. The firm owned 947 planes as of June 30 and had 179 planes on order through 2019, Plueger said. None of its debt has been guaranteed by AIG since ILFC was sold to the insurance company about 18 years ago, he said.
``Despite the events of recent weeks, it's very much business as usual for ILFC,'' Plueger said. ``We're going at Mach 2 with our hair on fire.'' Mach 1 is the speed of sound. Most large aircraft fly at about 0.85 times the speed of sound.
Plueger was asked by ISTAT, the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading, to discuss ILFC with an audience worried about the future of aircraft finance.
When ILFC borrowed the $6.5 billion, it said the cash, together with revenue from operations, would be sufficient to meet debt obligations into the first quarter of 2009.
Future Financing
Plueger, asked where ILFC would find money after March 2009, said the company is ``exploring all our options going forward'' and that some of IFLC's assets are ``unencumbered.''
Edward Liddy, the new chief executive officer of New York- based AIG, is looking to sell units to pay back the government's $85 billion loan.
Plueger also said that Airbus, the world's largest manufacturer of airliners, should cut planned production rates to respond to any crisis in the financing of plane purchases. Airbus is increasing its production rate to 40 single-aisle planes and 11 widebodies a month by 2010, from about 36 and eight now.
``Airbus needs to take a good look at its production rates,'' he told Mark Pearman-Wright, head of leasing and investor marketing for
Airbus. He made the comment before the audience of 500.
CIT, also one of the world's largest aircraft lessors, agreed with the point, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Knittel said in the same forum.
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