Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (NYSE: AL) announces financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

“With aircraft in short supply and values rising, we benefit from continued fleet expansion and sales activity in an industry backdrop that remains positive. We see this environment continuing for the near to medium term future,” said John L. Plueger, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of the Board.

First Quarter 2024 Results

The following table summarizes our operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 (in millions, except per share amounts and percentages):

Operating Results

Key Financial Ratios

Highlights

• During the first quarter, we took delivery of 14 aircraft from our order book, representing approximately $900 million in aircraft investments, ending the period with 472 aircraft in our owned fleet and approximately $31 billion in total assets.
• Sold five aircraft during the first quarter for approximately $240 million in sales proceeds.
• We have approximately $1.4 billion of aircraft in our sales pipeline in 2024, which includes $666 million in flight equipment held for sale as of March 31, 2024 and $698 million of aircraft subject to letters of intent.
• We have placed 100% of our committed orderbook on long-term leases for aircraft delivering through the end of 2025 and have placed approximately 63% of our entire orderbook delivering through 2029.
• We ended the quarter with $30.6 billion in committed minimum future rental payments consisting of $16.6 billion in contracted minimum rental payments on the aircraft in our existing fleet and $14.0 billion in minimum future rental payments related to aircraft which will deliver between 2024 through 2028.
• During the first quarter, we issued approximately $1.4 billion in aggregate principal amount of Medium-Term Notes across three different markets (US, Canada and Europe) with a swap-adjusted average rate of 5.43% with maturities ranging from 2028 to 2030.
• In April 2024, with the support of 52 financial institutions, we increased the capacity of our syndicated unsecured revolving credit facility to $7.8 billion and extended the final maturity to May 5, 2028.
• On May 3, 2024, our board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share on our outstanding Class A common stock. The next quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share will be paid on July 8, 2024 to holders of record of our Class A common stock as of June 4, 2024.

Financial Overview

Our total revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2024 increased by 4% to $663 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. The increase in total revenues was primarily driven by the continued growth in our fleet and an increase in sales activity partially offset by a decrease in end of lease revenue. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we recognized $23.0 million in gains from the sale of five aircraft and $12.7 million in end of lease revenue from the return of two aircraft. During the first quarter of 2023, we recognized $8.8 million from the sale of two aircraft and $34.7 million in end of lease revenue from the return of 10 aircraft.

Our net income attributable to common stockholders for the three months ended March 31, 2024 was $97 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, compared to $118 million, or $1.06 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease from the prior year period is primarily due to higher interest expense driven by the increase in our composite cost of funds, partially offset by the increase in revenues discussed above.

Adjusted net income before income taxes during the three months ended March 31, 2024 was $146 million, or $1.31 per adjusted diluted share, as compared to $167 million, or $1.50 per adjusted diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2023. Adjusted net income before income taxes decreased primarily due to higher interest expense driven by the increase in our composite cost of funds, partially offset by the increase in revenues discussed above.

Flight Equipment Portfolio

As of March 31, 2024, the net book value of our fleet increased to $26.5 billion, compared to $26.2 billion as of December 31, 2023. As of March 31, 2024, we owned 472 aircraft in our aircraft portfolio, comprised of 354 narrowbody aircraft and 118 widebody aircraft, and we managed 73 aircraft. The weighted average fleet age and weighted average remaining lease term of flight equipment subject to operating lease as of March 31, 2024 was 4.7 years and 7.0 years, respectively. We had a globally diversified customer base comprised of 120 airlines in 62 countries as of March 31, 2024.

The following table summarizes the key portfolio metrics of our fleet as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023:

The following table details the regional concentration of our flight equipment subject to operating leases:

The following table details the composition of our owned fleet by aircraft type:

Debt Financing Activities

We ended the first quarter of 2024 with total debt financing, net of discounts and issuance costs, of $19.5 billion. As of March 31, 2024, 83.3% of our total debt financing was at a fixed rate and 98.5% was unsecured. As of March 31, 2024, our composite cost of funds was 4.03%. We ended the quarter with total liquidity of $6.5 billion.

As of the end of the periods presented, our debt portfolio was comprised of the following components (dollars in millions, except percentages):

Conference Call

In connection with this earnings release, Air Lease Corporation will host a conference call on May 6, 2024 at 4:30 PM Eastern Time to discuss the Company's financial results for the first quarter of 2024.

Investors can participate in the conference call by dialing 1 (888) 660-6652 domestic or 1 (646) 960-0554 international. The passcode for the call is 5952437.

The conference call will also be broadcast live through a link on the Investors page of the Air Lease Corporation website at www.airleasecorp.com. Please visit the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the broadcast will be available on the Investors page of the Air Lease Corporation website.

For your convenience, the conference call can be replayed in its entirety beginning on May 6, 2024 until 11:59 PM ET on May 13, 2024. If you wish to listen to the replay of this conference call, please dial 1 (800) 770-2030 domestic or 1 (647) 362-9199 international and enter passcode 5952437.

About Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL)

Air Lease Corporation is a leading global aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. Air Lease Corporation and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing new commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. Air Lease Corporation routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the “Investors” section of its website at www.airleasecorp.com. Investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult Air Lease Corporation’s website regularly for important information. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, Air Lease Corporation's website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements appear in a number of places in this press release and include statements regarding, among other matters, the state of the airline industry, our access to the capital and debt markets, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact of sanctions imposed on Russia, the impact of the Israel Hamas conflict, aircraft and engine delivery delays and manufacturing flaws, our aircraft sales pipeline and expectations, changes in inflation and interest rates and other macroeconomic conditions and other factors affecting our financial condition or results of operations. Words such as “can,” “could,” “may,” “predicts,” “potential,” “will,” “projects,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and “should,” and variations of these words and similar expressions, are used in many cases to identify these forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results to vary materially from our future results, performance or achievements, or those of our industry, expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others:

• our inability to obtain additional capital on favorable terms, or at all, to acquire aircraft, service our debt obligations and refinance maturing debt obligations;
• increases in our cost of borrowing, decreases in our credit ratings, or changes in interest rates;
• our inability to generate sufficient returns on our aircraft investments through strategic acquisition and profitable leasing;
• the failure of an aircraft or engine manufacturer to meet its contractual obligations to us, including or as a result of manufacturing flaws and technical or other difficulties with aircraft or engines before or after delivery;
• our ability to recover losses related to aircraft detained in Russia, including through insurance claims and related litigation;
• obsolescence of, or changes in overall demand for, our aircraft;
• changes in the value of, and lease rates for, our aircraft, including as a result of aircraft oversupply, manufacturer production levels, our lessees’ failure to maintain our aircraft, inflation, and other factors outside of our control;
• impaired financial condition and liquidity of our lessees, including due to lessee defaults and reorganizations, bankruptcies or similar proceedings;
• increased competition from other aircraft lessors;
• the failure by our lessees to adequately insure our aircraft or fulfill their contractual indemnity obligations to us, or the failure of such insurers to fulfill their contractual obligations;
• increased tariffs and other restrictions on trade;
• changes in the regulatory environment, including changes in tax laws and environmental regulations;
• other events affecting our business or the business of our lessees and aircraft manufacturers or their suppliers that are beyond our or their control, such as the threat or realization of epidemic diseases, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, war or armed hostilities between countries or non-state actors; and
• any additional factors discussed under “Part I — Item 1A. Risk Factors,” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, including future SEC filings.

All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results, and there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations. You are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not intend and undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect actual results or events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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