Wings Leasing is one of the fastest-growing aircraft leasing companies in the country, and they are built exclusively for flight training. In this episode of The Aviation Business Podcast, host Dan Gill sits down with Max Fuller, who works in Sales and Marketing at Wings Leasing, to break down how aircraft leasing works for flight school operators and why more schools are turning to it to grow their fleets without depleting their capital.

Max got his start in aviation watching FedEx departures at Indianapolis at age eight, worked FBO line service in high school, studied at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and cold-emailed Wings Leasing founder Alan Goodnight from his dorm room. Less than two years later, he is closing fleet deals for some of the largest pilot training programs in the country.

In this conversation, Dan and Max cover the real economics of fleet growth, what a sale-leaseback program looks like in practice, why a new Cessna 172 now costs over $700,000 with a two-year wait, and how Wings can close on lease terms in as little as 10 days with zero money down.

If you run a flight school and you have ever felt like fleet expansion was a capital problem you could not solve, this episode is worth your time.

What you will learn:

• Why leasing preserves liquidity and keeps aircraft off your balance sheet as debt
• How a sale-leaseback works and what a school gets out of it
• How Wings Leasing closed 100+ aircraft in its portfolio since launching in 2023
• What it takes to expand a fleet from 5 aircraft to 8 or 10 without traditional debt
• Why aircraft are best understood as portable real estate
• How young professionals can build a career in aviation finance without being a pilot

Connect with Wings Leasing:Website: www.WingsLeasing.com

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