ICBC Financial Leasing Co., China’s biggest domestic aircraft lessor, aims to deliver more than 300 planes to customers by the end of 2016, nearly double current levels, a senior executive said.

    ICBC Financial’s drive into a market still dominated by global players comes as Chinese leasing firms, backed by domestic lenders, play an increasingly important role in the growing domestic aviation business.

    Nearly 6,000 new commercial jets, worth US$780 billion, are expected to be delivered over the next 20 years, according to aircraft maker Boeing Co.

    “Local companies have been expanding quickly and the growth potential is huge,” said Mark Jiang, managing director of aviation finance at ICBC Financial. ICBC Financial is backed by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), while Bank of China Ltd. and other lenders support other lessors.

    ICBC Financial, which signed a US$1.1 billion deal with Embraer SA for 20 E190-E2 jets during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Brazil in July, owns and manages 384 planes currently, up from 60 three years ago, according to Jiang.

    Even though International Lease Finance Corp., part of AerCap Holdings NV, and GECAS, a unit of General Electric, still dominate the market, local lessors led by ICBC Financial and CDB Leasing have managed to win over a big chunk of new business in recent years.

    Collectively, Chinese lessors now handle 80 percent of all new domestic leasing business, up from next to zero five years ago, said Jiang. ICBC Financial now has 17 domestic and 34 overseas clients. (SD-Agencies)