CDB Aviation has signed lease agreements for two Airbus A321ceo aircraft with Turkish leisure and charter carrier Freebird Airlines (FH), the first deal between the two companies. The lessor announced the agreements in Istanbul on November 11, 2026, the year Freebird marks 25 years of flight operations.

In a press release dated November 11, 2026, CDB Aviation said the aircraft will support the growth of Freebird’s all-Airbus fleet and will serve the carrier’s leisure and charter network. Both jets will wear a special livery marking the anniversary. For an airline whose fleet page lists only A320s, the deal brings in what Airbus calls “the longest fuselage member” of the A320 Family.

A first deal in the anniversary year

Gavan Daly, Head of Commercial EMEA at CDB Aviation, said the lessor was “very happy to commence our relationship with Freebird Airlines” and to support the continued development of its fleet. He congratulated the Freebird team on its 25th anniversary and said CDB Aviation looks forward to building “a strong and lasting partnership.”

Selim Tükenmez, Managing Director of Freebird Airlines, said: “As we celebrate 25 years of Freebird Airlines, we are delighted to welcome CDB Aviation as a new partner.” He said the two aircraft “will expand our fleet and provide additional capacity and flexibility” across the airline’s leisure and charter network, and that Freebird looks forward to a long relationship with the CDB Aviation team.

The release did not disclose the lease terms, the delivery dates, the ages of the two aircraft or their cabin layout.

What the A321ceo adds to an A320 operation

Freebird’s milestones page lists 14 A320 aircraft, 11 registered in Türkiye and three in Malta. Its fleet page shows 11 A320s at Freebird Airlines and three at Freebird Europe, and gives the A320-214 a passenger capacity of 180 and a maximum payload range of 5,550 km (3,000 nautical miles).

Airbus’s A321ceo product page lists typical seating of 170 to 210, up to 220 seats in a high-density layout, and a range of 5,950 km (3,213 nautical miles) with Sharklets. The release does not say how Freebird will configure the two jets or which routes they will fly.

Freebird Airlines at 25

Freebird, a group company of Gözen Holding, was established in 2000 and began commercial flights on April 5, 2001, with three MD-83 aircraft, according to the CDB Aviation release. The airline’s milestones page says its fleet was renewed with the Airbus A320 series in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and that its operations base moved from Istanbul to Antalya in 2013.

The carrier is based at Antalya Airport (AYT), which handled 39,000,177 passengers in 2025, according to AirPro Atlas airport data. The release says Freebird serves more than 100 destinations, linking Europe with holiday destinations in Türkiye and beyond.

Freebird Airlines Europe, registered in Malta, began operations in 2019, and Freebird launched scheduled flights from Europe to holiday destinations in 2022, according to the milestones page. In 2006, Freebird became the first private Turkish airline to obtain IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification, the release says.

CDB Aviation’s narrowbody book and earlier business in Türkiye

CDB Aviation is an Irish subsidiary wholly owned by China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (CDB Leasing), which the release describes as a 41-year-old Chinese leasing company backed mainly by China Development Bank. CDB Leasing has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since July 2016. CDB Aviation’s fleet page lists 44 Airbus A320ceo Family aircraft in its fleet as of June 30, 2026, alongside 134 A320neo Family aircraft in the fleet and 100 more committed.

The release describes Freebird as a new Turkish customer. CDB Aviation has leased aircraft in Türkiye before: in a press release dated April 24, 2024, it said seven new leases with Turkish Airlines would bring the number of aircraft it has on lease to the flag carrier to 17. Those leases included six Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to be received between 2025 and 2026 by Ajet, the Turkish Airlines subsidiary.

Other CDB Aviation announcements listed alongside the Freebird release include an additional Boeing 737-800 for Neos on October 28, 2026, the first of four 737-8s for Norwegian on September 29, 2026, and five A321neo deliveries to LATAM on September 8, 2026.

Qatar’s Lesha Bank has agreed to sell six Airbus A380s to Emirates (EK), with two aircraft already delivered and the remaining four due to transfer in stages through April 2028 as their leases end. The bank announced the sale in a statement dated November 10, 2026.

Lesha Bank sold the aircraft through an investment structure on behalf of its Lesha Aviation Fund. The bank said the deal secures long-term ownership of a core part of the Emirates widebody fleet for the airline, which it described as the world’s largest operator of the type, and supports the A380’s continued role in the carrier’s premium long-haul service and capacity plans as it expands its network from Dubai. The bank did not disclose the price.

Where the six A380s come from

Aviation Week reported on November 11, 2026, that the six A380s come from the portfolio of Amedeo Air Four Plus (AA4+), the aircraft lessor Lesha Bank bought in 2026. Citing its Fleet Discovery database, Aviation Week said all six aircraft are 10 to 12 years old, and that the AA4+ portfolio also includes two Boeing 777-300ERs and four Airbus A350-900s on long-term lease to Emirates or Thai Airways.

Lesha Bank announced on March 6, 2026, that its wholly owned subsidiary LAC 10 LLC, a Qatar Financial Centre company, would acquire the entire share capital of AA4+, a Guernsey-incorporated lessor then listed on the London Stock Exchange. The offer of 73 pence per share gave AA4+ an equity value of about GBP 190 million. The Royal Court of Guernsey sanctioned the scheme of arrangement on June 25, 2026, and AA4+ has since been delisted, according to the bank.

Jonathan Skirrow, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Lesha Aviation Services, called Emirates “a long-standing and valued partner” and said that completing the sale of the two aircraft “marks an important milestone.” He said the phased transfer of the remaining four reflects both the strength of the bank’s relationship with the airline and its focus on well-structured, value-accretive transactions for its investors.

Emirates keeps investing in the A380

According to Aviation Week, Emirates has been leasing the six aircraft from Lesha Bank, so the purchase brings them into its owned fleet. Emirates Airline President Tim Clark told Aviation Week’s Window Seat Podcast that he sees the A380 serving the airline for up to 24 or 25 years, and that the type could stay in the fleet until as late as 2041, Aviation Week reported. Its Fleet Discovery data showed Emirates with 85 A380s in service, 15 parked and 15 in storage as of November 11.

The airline has also been refitting the aircraft. On May 20, 2026, Emirates said it had completed its first two-class A380 retrofit, adding 56 Premium Economy seats on the upper deck of A6-EUX for a three-class layout of 76 Business, 56 Premium Economy and 437 Economy seats. It called the aircraft the first of 15 two-class A380s it will renovate, with all 15 planned for completion by the end of 2026.

The wider cabin retrofit program, run in-house by Emirates Engineering in Dubai, had covered 95 aircraft at that point, 42 of them A380s and 53 Boeing 777s, according to the airline. Emirates said the program was announced in 2021 with an initial scope of 120 aircraft and later expanded to 219.

A growing aviation book for Lesha Bank

The bank said the transaction reflects its growing aviation track record and its ability to structure and deliver aircraft transitions for clients and investors. The sale follows a larger purchase in the opposite direction: in September 2026, Lesha Bank agreed to buy a 33-aircraft portfolio from Avolon, leased to 25 airlines worldwide. The two companies said Lesha Aviation Services would manage that portfolio after completion, raising the bank’s total managed fleet to more than 75 aircraft.

Mohammed Ismail Al Emadi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Lesha Bank, said at the time that the Avolon deal “reflects the disciplined approach we have taken to building scale in aviation leasing,” and described the bank’s aviation portfolio as Shari’a-compliant.

Lesha Bank is listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange under the ticker QFBQ and is authorized by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA). It did not identify the six aircraft or give dates for the individual transfers. The next milestones are the four remaining handovers to Emirates, which the bank expects to complete in stages through April 2028 as the current leases end.

Aviation Capital Group (ACG) has delivered an Airbus A321neo to Wizz Air (W6), completing a four-aircraft sale-and-leaseback transaction and bringing the lessor’s A321neo deliveries to the airline to 16 since March 2025.

In a press release dated November 10, 2026, the Newport Beach, California-based lessor said the aircraft is the final delivery under the four-aircraft deal it opened in August. ACG Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Carter A. White said the 16 deliveries came over 20 months and across three mandates.

Sixteen aircraft in 20 months

The relationship began on March 24, 2025, when ACG announced the delivery of one A321neo powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines to Wizz Air. ACG said at the time that it was the first aircraft scheduled for delivery under a multiple-aircraft sale-leaseback transaction. “ACG is delighted to deliver this A321neo aircraft to Wizz Air,” Claudio Cheinquer, Vice President, Marketing at ACG, said then.

On October 21, 2025, ACG announced three more GTF-powered A321neos for Wizz Air. Those were the tenth, eleventh and twelfth aircraft under the sale-leaseback arrangement, delivered from Hamburg, Germany, and Tianjin, China, over one week. ACG said they completed its mandate with the airline at that point.

A new mandate followed. On August 18, 2026, ACG said it had delivered the first of four new A321neos at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse, again with Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. The lessor said then that the completed mandate would leave it with sixteen A321neo aircraft on lease to Wizz Air, and White said, “The remaining three aircraft are expected to follow in quick succession.” The November 10 delivery closes that transaction.

What the two companies said

“We are incredibly proud of this achievement,” White said in the November 10 release. He said delivering 16 A321neo aircraft to Wizz Air in 20 months, across three mandates, “demonstrates ACG’s ability to execute at scale.” He thanked the delivery teams in Toulouse, Hamburg and Tianjin.

Owain Jones, Chief Corporate Officer of Wizz Air, said investing in modern, fuel-efficient aircraft is central to the airline’s strategy of affordable air travel. “The A321neo combines lower unit costs with lower fuel consumption per passenger,” Jones said. He described ACG as a trusted fleet development partner.

The lessor and the operator behind the deal

ACG specializes in commercial aircraft leasing and provides asset management and financing services to third parties. As of September 30, 2026, the company had approximately 500 owned, managed and committed aircraft, leased to roughly 85 airlines in about 50 countries, according to the release. ACG was founded in 1989 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Century Corporation.

Wizz Air operates 276 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft and carried 68.6 million passengers in 2025, according to the company description in the release. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WIZZ. The AirPro Atlas lists Wizz Air, founded in 2003, with Hungary as its country.

The release does not disclose financial terms or lease length for the transaction.