GE Commercial Aviation Services

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GECAS (GE Commercial Aviation Services, though the acronym is the more common usage) is a unit of GE Commercial Finance, itself part of the large conglomerate General Electric. The president of GECAS is Henry Hubschman. GECAS is responsible for the leasing of aircraft and associated equipment to airlines. GECAS buys aircraft from manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing and then leases them to airlines, typically on three to five year leases. It also buys aircraft from airlines and leases them back. GECAS formerly stood for GE Capital Aviation Services.

The primary competition for GECAS is ILFC, although other companies such as Aviation Capital Group, AerCap, Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management and RBS Aviation Capital also compete with it. GECAS is the largest aircraft lessor in the world by fleet size according to the 2005 Airfinance Journal Operating Lessor Survey.

At the beginning of 2005, GECAS had an inventory of 1,342 aircraft (per AvSoft/The Wall Street Journal.) Nearly all aircraft owned by GECAS are powered by engines from GE-Aviation, another subsidiary of General Electric.

In early 2007, GECAS placed an order with Boeing for fifteen 777 aircraft and twenty four 737-800 aircraft in a $5.34 billion deal. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between 2008 and 2010.^[1]

GECAS also owns a minority stake in Oxford Aviation Academy retained when they sold 80% (before dilution) of GECAT to STAR Capital Partners in 2007