Magyar News, 2003. szeptember-2004. augusztus (14. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-02-01 / 6. szám
Steven Udvar-Házv A HUNGARIAN NAME AMONG THE FINANCIAL GIANTS We know very little about the personal life of Udvar-házy. Udvar-Hazy's family went to the United States in 1958, fleeing the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Steven found early success in his adopted homeland. In 1966, while still attending the University of California at Los Angeles, Udvar-Hazy formed Airlines Systems Research Consultants, a firm specializing in airline routes and fleet and planning analysis. His first clients included Aer Lingus and Air New Zealand. In 1973, he formed Interlease Group Inc., with Leslie and Lou Gonda. Today, the firm is known as International Lease Finance Corp. Since 1990 the International Lease Finance Corporation, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group Inc, the leading international insurance organization and is the international leader in the leasing and remarketing of new-generation commercial jet aircraft to airlines around the world. His shares of American International Group are alone worth almost $2.3 billion. Besides Udvar-házy is on the Board of other organizations, and is a certified jetpilot. ILFC owns nearly 400 aircraft valued at more than $17 billion. Under Udvar-Hazy's leadership, ILFC has become the largest aircraft lessor in the world, measured by fleet value. ILFC's fleet is also the most modem, with an average age of less than four years. His name came in front of the public when he made a 65 million dollar donation to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum The museum is a sister facility to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington. That museum, which touts itself as the most-visited museum in the world, will continue to display many historic aviation artifacts, including the Wright Brothers' 1903 flyer, and the Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindbergh flew in the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight. But the majority of the Smithsonian's collection of aviationrelated artifacts will be displayed at the new Udvar-Hazy Center, which will eventually grow to cover more than 760,000 square feet and include 200 planes and spacecraft. Aside from the Enola Gay, that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, it already has 80 large artifacts on display, including a supersonic Concorde passenger jet, the first space shuttle and an SR-71 spy plane, the fastest jet aircraft ever built. In the future we hope to see Udvar-Házy’s name on some Hungarian project.
