GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services) is an Irish–American company which is the largest commercial airline leasing and financing company in the world by the number of aircraft owned.
GECAS has a fleet of over 1,970 aircraft that is used by 270 clients in over 75 countries. The company offers many aviation finance services, including aircraft leasing, aircraft lending, engine leasing, asset management, and aircraft consulting.
The company established in 1967 leasing 3 DC9-30‘s to a Pittsburgh-based operator.
GECAS's closest competitor, AerCap owns 1,034 aircraft after the company acquired 100% stake of the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) in 2013.
AerCap bought International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) for $5.4 billion from which $3 billion was paid by cash and the rest with newly issued AerCap common shares.
As GECAS is a subsidiary of GE Capital, the company previously had a policy that says 99% of its total leased aircraft to airlines must have GE engines due to which the company owned very less aircraft that has other engines besides engines manufactured be GE.