Air Lease Corp. (AL, Financial) is an aircraft leasing company led by Steve Udvar-Hazy, who co-founded the aircraft leasing business in 1973. The company offers a young, fuel-efficient fleet to meet strong demand for replacement of aging aircrafts and more lift capacity in Asia. Historically, global airline traffic has doubled every 15 years and is projected to grow 5% annually over the next four years. Lessors' share of the market is growing too. Air Lease provides its customers favor able delivery slots, as w ell as fleet and balance sheet flexibility. Air Lease is well-capitalized, and recently secured an investment grade rating that should help keep financing costs low. The company has placed all deliveries through 2015, as part of a $27 billion order book (vs. its current $7.6 billion fleet). We believe Air Lease is well positioned for a long "runway" of profitable growth. (David Goldsmith
From Baron Funds' first quarter 2014 letter to shareholders.
