International Lease Finance Corp. – aircraft lessor and the largest single customer of both Boeing and Airbus – chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy is reportedly attempting to line up investors to buy back the company from parent American International Group (AIG), which purchased it in 1990, according to the Wall Street Journal.

ILFC, founded by Udvar-Hazy and Leslie and Louis Gonda in 1973, is a bright spot in troubled AIG’s portfolio. While the company as a whole nearly collapsed before the government stepped in to take an 80 per cent stake worth US$85 billion, the aircraft leasing unit posted a US$364 million net profit in the first six months of 2008 on revenue of US$2.5 billion.

WSJ reported that Udvar-Hazy recently concluded that it was no longer viable for ILFC to be a part of AIG because the parent company’s credit rating had deteriorated to the point that it was driving up the lessor’s borrowing rates. He is reported to be speaking with a wide range of potential investors, including private equity firms, pension funds, banks and sovereign wealth funds.