Airbus’s A380 yesterday received a highly welcome boost from Doric Lease, which placed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purchase of 20 of the superjumbos at the Paris Air Show.

With this investment, Doric plans to offer a tailored A380 leasing scheme designed to make the aircraft more accessible to new and existing A380 operators around the world who prefer to opt for the flexibility of an operating lease. Doric already has significant experience with the A380, ranking as the third largest wide-body lessor worldwide by value and the world’s largest asset manager of leased A380s. Doric carries a $6 billion aircraft portfolio under management, including 18 A380s acquired through sale-leaseback arrangements.

“The A380 offers us a unique opportunity to continue growing Doric’s aviation platform by establishing ourselves as a lessor with a forward-order portfolio of 20 A380s to market with existing and new customers worldwide,” said Doric CEO Mark Lapidus.

Appearing with Lapidus at yesterday’s signing ceremony, Airbus COO for customers John Leahy called the deal the start of “a new chapter” for the A380, which has suffered through an extended sales slump, as has its competitor from Boeing, the 747-8. Last year the A380 drew firm orders for just nine examples and this year Airbus has yet to collect an order. Leahy has targeted sales of 25 of the big jets this year. Last year he had expected 30.