The New York Federal Reserve has signed off on American International Group Inc.'s latest cash infusion for its aircraft leasing unit, a lifeline aimed at keeping it in business until it can be sold.

International Lease Finance Corp., one of the world's largest buyers of airliners, had warned that a failure to come up with new loans from AIG or someone else could threaten its survival.

AIG had already loaned $800 million to the unit to cover its March spending. And on Thursday, ILFC Chief Financial Officer Alan Lund told The Associated Press that another $900 million AIG loan for April was approved late Wednesday by the New York Federal Reserve. The money will be received on Monday; Lund said ILFC has $600 million in debt that will mature two days later.

ILFC said in a filing that AIG will continue to offer such loans until March 2010 or until the unit is sold, whichever comes first.

"ILFC will continue to have adequate financing through March 2010, at least," AIG spokesman David Monfried said. He said the company is in talks with several potential buyers, all of whom have the financial wherewithal to close a deal.

"The company actually will be sold. We are talking to a variety of interested potential buyers right now," Monfried told the AP.

ILFC leases its 955 commercial jets _ one of the world's largest fleets _ to airlines. It was thought to be one of the New York-based insurer's jewels. But like many of AIG's business units, it has been up for sale as the insurer struggles to pay back its debt to the U.S. government, which has extended $182.5 billion to AIG to keep it in business.

The company is among the largest customers of both Boeing Co. and Airbus, with 49 planes worth $3 billion set for delivery this year alone, according to the filing. It has 168 new planes worth $16.7 billion planned for delivery through 2019. It said it would pay for the planes with a mix of operating cash and new debt.

However, IFLC, which is based in Century City, Calif., said that since September it has been unable to issue unsecured public debt because of ongoing challenges at AIG and the ensuing credit market turmoil. A credit-rating downgrade in January cut it off from the Federal Reserve's commercial paper funding program, another source of funding.

The company said in its filing Wednesday that if financing fails to materialize, "we will have to pursue alternative strategies, such as selling aircraft."

Boeing Co. spokesman Jim Proulx on Thursday declined to comment on ILFC's disclosure, saying only that Boeing remained in close contact with its customers and would not comment on any discussions it might be having with them.

"We are aware that our customers face a challenging and dynamic environment, and we continue to monitor the environment," he said.

Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy said in a statement, "Our relations with ILFC date back over 20 years. We have full faith in their senior management. ILFC is current in all their financial commitments to Airbus and we are confident that they will remain so in the future."

Besides the credit crunch, ILFC could suffer along with its airline customers. Ten airlines with 43 planes owned or managed by ILFC filed for bankruptcy protection, and some of those stopped flying altogether. ILFC's fourth-quarter profit of almost $115 million was down 35 percent from the year-earlier period. Still, its 2008 profit of $703.1 million on revenue of $5.09 billion was a record.

ILFC, a pioneer in the jet leasing business, began using unsecured loans to buy planes in 1985 because that made it easier to shift planes from one airline to another, said Lund, who has been ILFC's chief financial officer for 27 years. Unsecured loans are generally harder to get because the lender doesn't have collateral.

"I may have to give that up for a while," Lund said.

He said ILFC is also waiting on approval from European lenders for Airbus deliveries beginning in the second week of April.

ILFC drew down $6.5 billion from a revolving credit line last fall. Of that, $2 billion comes due in October, $2 billion in October 2010, and the rest of it in 2011.

"Those are the pieces that are causing me my greatest aggravation, because they're very large numbers coming due at one point," Lund said.

AIG shares fell 6 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.14 in afternoon trading.

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AP Manufacturing Writer Daniel Lovering in Pittsburgh contributed to this report. Freed reported from Minneapolis.