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The United States was for decades the chosen destination for millions of immigrants who sought to escape economic crises, political conflicts, or simply find an opportunity to start over.
That was the case of Steven Udvar-Hazy, a boy who emigrated from Hungary with his family and who, after working for just 30 cents an hour, found an opportunity where no one else saw one.
With effort and business vision, he ended up building a true aviation empire, becoming one of the richest immigrants in the United States, according to Forbes.
He arrived in the United States with no money and built a multimillion-dollar airplane empire
Steven Udvar-Hazy was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States with his family after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when thousands of people left the country to escape the communist regime: “I arrived with nothing, except hope”.
Like millions of immigrants, he started by doing humble jobs while trying to make his way: “When you arrive in a new country, you very quickly learn that every opportunity counts,” he recalled when speaking about his early years in the United States.
It was during that stage that he came to work for 30 cents an hour, an experience that, as he explained in various interviews, taught him the value of effort and the importance of making the most of every opportunity.
That mindset would ultimately become the foundation of the business empire he would build decades later.
The idea that forever changed the airplane industry
While working in the aviation sector, Udvar-Hazy detected a problem that almost no one had seen.
Many airlines needed to add new aircraft, but they could not afford the enormous cost of buying them.
Instead of selling aircraft, he proposed something completely different: leasing them.
That is how International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was born in 1973, a company that would end up becoming one of the largest commercial aircraft leasing companies in the world.
How he went from immigrant to multimillionaire
The model was a resounding success: over the years, ILFC came to manage hundreds of aircraft used by the world’s leading airlines and became one of the most influential companies in the sector.
His vision forever changed the way companies financed and renewed their fleets.
Not content after selling ILFC, Udvar-Hazy bet on the same industry again and founded Air Lease Corporation, another company specialized in aircraft leasing that quickly managed to position itself among the world’s leaders.
Forbes ranks him among the richest immigrants in the United States
The growth of his companies allowed Steven Udvar-Hazy to build a multimillion-dollar fortune.
In the 2025 edition of the list compiled by Forbes, he appears among the richest immigrants in the United States thanks to the success achieved in the aviation industry.
His story is considered one of the greatest examples of the so-called “American dream”: an immigrant who arrived practically with no resources and ended up building a company that transformed an entire industry.