Moody's upgraded Aircastle Ltd.'s corporate family and senior unsecured regular bond ratings to Baa3 from Ba1, and assigned a stable rating outlook.

Subsequently, the rating agency withdrew Aircastle's Baa3 corporate family rating as it was Moody's anchor rating for non-investment-grade issuers.

Aircastle's upgrade reflected its improved performance prospects after both growing its aircraft fleet and lowering its fleet risks, along with the company's conservative capital position and effective liquidity management, according to Moody's. The rating agency said that Aircastle's plan to reconfigure its fleet to include more narrow-body aircraft rather than wide-body aircraft was a positive, since wide-body and freighter aircraft have a smaller customer base.

Moody's had put the Ba1 corporate family rating and Ba1 senior unsecured regular bond rating of Aircastle on review for possible upgrade in June.