Where Irish Aircraft Lessors Earn Their Lease Income
Quick answer
Irish lessors earned €22.6 billion in operating lease income in 2025. Asia is still the largest region at 41%, but America has grown from 12% to 22% since 2013 and the United States has overtaken China as the largest single customer country.
Operating lease income is the rent airlines pay to lessors. The CSO splits it by the region and country of the lessee, the airline customer. That tells you where the customers are based. It does not tell you where the aircraft fly, which is a separate question covered on the destination pages.
By region
| Region | 2013 | 2019 | 2025 | Share in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | €4.1bn | €9.2bn | €9.2bn | 41% |
| Europe | €4.4bn | €7.5bn | €7.8bn | 35% |
| America | €1.2bn | €3.4bn | €5.0bn | 22% |
| Africa | €0.3bn | €0.5bn | €0.5bn | 2% |
| Australia and Oceania | €0.1bn | €0.2bn | €0.1bn | under 1% |
| All countries | €10.1bn | €20.9bn | €22.6bn |
Total lease income more than doubled between 2013 and 2019 and has grown about 8% since. The growth since 2019 is almost entirely America: up €1.6 billion, while Asia was flat at €9.2 billion and Europe rose €0.3 billion. America’s share went from 12% in 2013 to 16% in 2019 and 22% in 2025.
Lease income dipped in 2020, to €19.6 billion, and Asia took the largest hit that year (€9.2 billion to €8.2 billion).
By country
CSO names ten countries in table ALIA09:
| Lessee country | 2013 | 2019 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | €0.5bn | €1.2bn | €2.1bn |
| China | €1.2bn | €2.1bn | €1.7bn |
| India | €0.5bn | €1.3bn | €1.7bn |
| Ireland | €1.1bn | €1.7bn | €1.5bn |
| France | €0.3bn | €0.9bn | €1.0bn |
| United Kingdom | €0.5bn | €0.8bn | €0.8bn |
| Brazil | €0.2bn | €0.5bn | €0.7bn |
| South Korea | €0.3bn | €0.6bn | €0.6bn |
| United Arab Emirates | €0.5bn | €0.7bn | €0.4bn |
| Russia | €0.5bn | €0.9bn | 0.0 |
Three movements matter:
- The United States moved from fourth to first. It earned €1.2 billion in 2019 and €2.1 billion in 2025, and passed both China and India.
- China peaked in 2019. Its €2.1 billion in 2019 had fallen to €1.7 billion by 2025, where India (up from €1.3 billion) now matches it.
- Russia fell from €0.9 billion in 2019 to 0.0 in 2025 (a rounded figure, so small but not necessarily zero). The CSO table does not explain why, and we have not assumed a cause.
Ireland itself appears as a lessee country, at €1.5 billion in 2025. That is lease income from customers based in Ireland.
The ten named countries add up to about €10.5 billion of the €22.6 billion total. The other roughly €12 billion comes from countries the CSO does not name individually, so the named list is a partial picture. The country ranking tells you who the largest named customers are, not the full customer base.
Reading it carefully
Lessee country is the CSO’s classification of the airline customer, which can differ from where its aircraft spend their time. Figures are in euro billions to one decimal place, so small countries lose precision. Latest-year numbers are provisional.
For the other side of the picture, see where Irish flights go and How Big Is Ireland’s Aircraft Leasing Industry?.