Founded

1994

Headquarters

Chandler, Arizona

Key People

Steve Smestad, CEO; Jim Blessing, president

Number of Employees

17

Phone Number

(800) 390-4324

Website

AirFleet Capital

AirFleet Capital

AirFleet Capital provides financing for general aviation and business aircraft ranging from piston-powered single-engine airplanes to light jets and helicopters. It focuses on the owner-operator market and controls all aspects of the financing process, originating, underwriting, documenting, and closing every loan.

After nearly a decade serving as president and CEO and then on the board of directors for British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) subsidiary Jetstream Aircraft, Steve Smestad left the company in 1994 to form his own aircraft financing firm in Winchester, Virginia. A private pilot and aircraft owner with an MBA in finance, Smestad set out to provide full-service financing from origination to closing for general aviation aircraft and named his company AirFleet Capital. 

Jim Blessing, a pilot and the former chief financial officer for an aircraft logistics company, joined the growing operation as president in 1999. By this time, AirFleet had written loans for single- and twin-engine piston aircraft, turboprops, light jets, and helicopters. 

In 2006, AirFleet became the official financing partner of the Experimental Aircraft Association, providing loans for new and used amateur-built aircraft and for certificated aircraft in the recently designated light-sport category. With the influx of new business, the company opened a second location in Atlanta in 2008. 

Looking for a change in scenery, Smestad moved his family to Arizona in 2010 and opened a third AirFleet Capital office at Chandler Municipal Airport. This office expanded quickly and became the new headquarters of the company, which still maintained the Virginia and Georgia locations.   

By the time the AirFleet Capital celebrated 20 years in business in 2014, it had closed on more than 5,000 aircraft loans. In 2018, the company was reportedly second in the market in the number of turboprops and light jets financed, averaging more than 100 turbine-powered aircraft per year. It originated more than 700 loans in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

By mid-2021, AirFleet had financed more than 8,400 aircraft and had an active aircraft portfolio of more than $1 billion. That year, the company became an accredited Products and Services member of the International Aircraft Dealers Association.