It was the biggest plane order in the history of commercial aviation, a $5 billion deal to buy 100 Boeing jets and 30 Airbus models by 1995. The purchaser was not one of the titans of the airline business but a 16-employee Beverly Hills-based concern known as International Lease Finance Corp. Founded in 1973 by Steven Udvar-Hazy, 42, and Louis Gonda, 39, with financial help from Gonda's father Leslie, 68, the company has become one of the biggest players in the burgeoning business of jet leasing, with earnings of $51 million last year on revenues of $180 million. ILFC borrows money...
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