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Aviation glossary

Lessor

Also: aircraft lessor, leasing company, aircraft leasing company

Airlines and business

Company that owns aircraft and rents them out to airlines for years at a time in return for regular payments, without operating them itself.

What it is

Lessors buy new aircraft directly from manufacturers, often in large orders, or acquire them from airlines and lease them straight back. For airlines, leasing avoids tying up capital, offers flexibility to grow or shrink the fleet and can bring aircraft in sooner when manufacturers' delivery queues are long.

Around half of the world's commercial airliner fleet is now leased. Major lessors include AerCap, SMBC Aviation Capital and Avolon, all three headquartered in Dublin, and Ireland is home to a large part of the industry.

The same aircraft may pass through several airlines during its life while belonging to one lessor throughout, or change owner without changing operator.

On Vuelopedia

In an aircraft record, Vuelopedia shows the owner or lessor, where known, alongside the current operator.

Related terms

Dry leaseLease of an aircraft alone, without crew or maintenance; the lessee airline flies it with its own staff and under its own operating certificate. Sale and leasebackDeal in which an airline sells an aircraft to a lessor and immediately leases it back, so that it can keep flying the aircraft without interruption. Operator and ownerDistinction between the operator, the airline that flies an aircraft and is responsible for its operation, and the legal owner, often a lessor or a bank. Wet leaseArrangement in which one airline hires another's aircraft together with its crew, maintenance and insurance, while the lessor operates it under its own certificate. Firm order and optionWays in which an airline or lessor orders aircraft: a firm order is a binding contract, while an option reserves a delivery slot that can be confirmed later.
Whole glossary

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Lessor. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor

MLA

“Lessor.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Lessor.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Lessor. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_lessor,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Lessor}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/lessor |title=Lessor |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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