The aircraft leasing unit of American International Group Inc. (AIG) said Monday its parent company had provided another $2 billion in U.S. government-backed funds to meet short-term financing needs.

International Lease Finance Corp. had already secured $1.7 billion from AIG to drive it through a funding crisis that could ripple through the global airline industry because of its dominant position in aircraft leasing.

AIG, which is 80% owned by the U.S. government, tapped the funds from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York backed by ILFC aircraft, according to a regulatory filing.

Philip Baggaley, Senior Transportation Credit Analyst at Standard & Poors in New York, said the transaction suggests AIG and the New York Fed want to retain and support ILFC for the foreseeable future.

"It indicated ILFC has long-term value and AIG believes that the Federal Reserve is going to give them a chance to prove that, but ILFC is cut off from capital markets," Baggaley said.

Baggaley said the move is "consistent with the apparent plan to hold onto ILFC until better market conditions prevail and secure a higher value."

AIG shelved plans to sell the business earlier this year. Industry officials had assumed ILFC would seek to roll over the debt but questioned where it could get financing on profitable terms after multiple downgrades of its credit rating.

ILFC until last year was able to borrow billions of dollars inexpensively in short-term debt markets without pledging airplanes as collateral. It is limited in how much of its fleet of more than 1,000 planes it can use as collateral for loans.

The insurer dropped the sale plan because investors' bids were below expectations and because of complexities refinancing ILFC's more than $30 billion in debt, according to people familiar with the issue.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com