leasing techniques have been used for financing purposes for several decades in the united states. the practice developed as a method of financing aircraft. several airlines in the early 1970s were notoriously unprofitable and very capital intensive. these airlines had no need for the depreciation deductions generated by their aircraft and were significantly more interested in reducing their operating expenses. a very prominent bank would purchase aircraft and lease them to the airlines. because the bank was able to claim depreciation deductions for the aircraft, the bank was able to offer lease rates significantly lower than the interest payments that airlines would otherwise pay on an aircraft purchase loan (and most commercial aircraft flying today are operated under a lease). in the united states, this spread into leasing the assets of u.s. cities and governmental entities and eventually evolved into cross-border leasing.