Asian investors bank on takeoff of regional aircraft leasing

Billions of dollars of bids have flowed into aircraft leasing in recent months from Asian investors eager to take advantage of the global airline industry’s ongoing recovery and an expected boom in demand from China’s airlines, The Wall Street Journal reported. Estimated returns from leasing aircraft were 9% a year on average from 2004 through 2011, while those from running an airline were just 4%, according to a prospectus issued by China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings for a July public offering that cited data from IATA, an industry group.