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Aviation glossary

Sale and leaseback

Also: sale-leaseback, leaseback, SLB

Airlines and business

Deal 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.

What it is

For the airline, a sale and leaseback raises cash or finances a new aircraft: it receives the sale price and in return pays rent for the length of the lease. Passengers notice no difference, since the aircraft keeps flying with the same crew, the same livery and, usually, the same registration.

The technique is common at delivery: an airline with an order from the manufacturer takes the new aircraft and sells it the same day to a lessor, which leases it straight back. That is why a brand-new aircraft may already be owned by a leasing company rather than by the airline that flies it.

On Vuelopedia

In an aircraft record, Vuelopedia shows the operator and, where known, the owner or lessor, which may be different companies.

Related terms

LessorCompany that owns aircraft and rents them out to airlines for years at a time in return for regular payments, without operating them itself. 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. 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. DeliveryThe handover of a new aircraft from its manufacturer to the customer, an airline or a lessor, after acceptance checks and final payment.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Sale and leaseback. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback

MLA

“Sale and leaseback.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Sale and leaseback.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Sale and leaseback. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback (Accessed: 19 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_sale_and_leaseback,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Sale and leaseback}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-19},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-19}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/sale-and-leaseback |title=Sale and leaseback |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-19 |language=en}}

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