Business Notes AIRCRAFT

It was the biggest plane order in the history of commercial aviation, a $5 billion deal to buy 100 Boeing jets and 30 Airbus models by 1995. The purchaser was not one of the titans of the airline business but a 16-employee Beverly Hills-based concern known as International Lease Finance Corp. Founded in 1973 by Steven Udvar-Hazy, 42, and Louis Gonda, 39, with financial help from Gonda's father Leslie, 68, the company has become one of the biggest players in the burgeoning business of jet leasing, with earnings of $51 million last year on revenues of $180 million. ILFC borrows money to buy jets and then leases them to airlines, which like the arrangement because it leaves them more money to spend on operations and service instead of expensive equipment. The company currently leases 53 jets for as much as $1 million a month.

ILFC's mammoth order is an enormous boon to Boeing, which has been reeling from a spate of bad publicity. An Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 ripped open over - Hawaii last month, and several airlines have voiced concerns about quality control on production of the Seattle-based company's 747 and 767 models. ILFC ordered 78 737s, nine 757s, nine 767s and four 747s for $3.7 billion. Europe's Airbus, which has been making inroads in the U.S. market, expressed satisfaction with its $1.3 billion share of the ILFC contract. The only real loser was St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas. It too bid for the order, but came away with nothing.