Doric Lease Corp has signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of twenty Airbus (EAD.PA) A380 aircraft at the 50th Paris Air Show Air Show with a value of $8 billion at today's list price.

The agreement was signed today by Mark Lapidus, chief executive officer of Doric Lease Corp and John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer, customers.

Doric will offer the Airbus A380 aircraft as operator customized operating lease. The aircraft financier and lessor is considered third largest wide-body lessor by value, and the world’s largest asset manager of leased Airbus A380 aircraft. Doric has a six billion dollar aircraft portfolio under management, including eighteen Airbus A380 aircraft acquired through sale-leaseback arrangements. And has been the lessor of  Emirate and Singapore Airlines Airbus A320 aircraft.

Lapidus, said: “The A380 offers us a unique opportunity to continue growing Doric’s aviation platform by establishing ourselves as a lessor with a forward-order portfolio of 20 A380s to market with existing and new customers worldwide.

“We will be able to provide turn-key A380 ownership solutions to airlines, allowing them to benefit from operating this fantastic aircraft. The A380 offers airlines a great opportunity to provide a superior product and travel experience while strengthening revenue generation. We are delighted to be part of the long term success of the A380.”

Leahy, added: “The A380 is moving into a new chapter, with more and more airlines around the world enjoying the benefits of its unrivalled passenger appeal and powerful revenue and growth generating capability. Airlines are waking up to the fact that if they want to stay ahead of the game, the only way is with the A380 in their fleets.

“We are delighted that with Doric, airlines around the world will now have more flexibility in bringing the A380 into their operations while being equipped to capture the growth opportunities we are seeing as the global economy recovers.”

The airbus A380 aircraft entered service in 2007 and is in the fleet of nine airlines. The aircraft is capable of flying 8,500 nautical miles or 15,700 kilometres non-stop.

The total Airbus A380 aircraft fleet has over 920,000 flight hours almost 110,000 commercial flight transporting 40 million passengers