KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s Aviation Lease & Finance Co. (Alafco), a unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), plans to spend about $600 million buying 15 new aircraft over the next two years to cover a gap before it receives already-ordered planes in 2017, the company’s chief executive said.

Alafco expects to receive 117 new aircraft, which it previously bought for $12.5 billion, between 2017 and 2022, Ahmad Al-Zabin said in an interview.

“Currently we are doing our best to bridge the gap with 15 aircraft and by getting aircraft that are leased to airlines so they generate income from day one.” Zabin did not specify the types of plane which Alafco might buy.

The company, owned 53.7 percent by KFH and 11.47 percent by state-run Kuwait Airways Corp, will finance a third of the $600 million from its own resources and the remainder via local and international banks.

Zabin said Alafco was “seriously thinking” about partnering with other firms in funds that owned aircraft; it would manage the funds and perhaps own parts of them, making profits from the management and from selling some of its aircraft to the funds.

Alafco currently operates a 50-aircraft fleet, three of them owned by KFH, the country’s largest Islamic lender; it plans to double its fleet in coming years.