FROM Scandinavia to Southeast Asia, low-cost airlines have ordered record numbers of planes in recent years, redefining the jet industry. Now they plan to lease out scores of their new planes, re-ordering the aviation business all over again.

    Between them, Indonesia’s Lion Air, Malaysia’s AirAsia and Norwegian Air Shuttle have ordered more than 1,400 Airbus and Boeing jets, worth about US$140 billion at current list prices. They’re about to test the growing market for rented planes, competing with established finance firms that lease out aircraft to cash-strapped carriers from China to the United States.

    Jet makers and the finance companies that dominate aircraft leasing question whether budget airlines have the know-how to succeed, and some in the industry wonder whether they have simply ordered more planes than they need. But the low-cost carriers’ sights are trained on new revenue streams, and net profit margins of about 20 percent enjoyed by global aircraft lessors — well above the airline industry average.

    “It’s the leasing companies that have made money in the last 10 years, not the airlines,” Norwegian Air Shuttle’s chief executive Bjorn Kjos told Reuters in a recent interview, referring to lessors who buy 30-40 percent of Airbus and Boeing planes. (SD-Agencies)