After being forced to relinquish many of its most prized business assets, fallen US insurer AIG has added its more expensive toys to its multi-billion dollar garage sale.

Seeking to raise an estimated $US2 billion ($2.14 billion) in cash, AIG has agreed to sell its fleet of 53 leased passenger jets to Macquarie Group, which is acquiring them at about $US300 million ($321 million) below market value.

The aircraft were owned by AIG’s aircraft leasing arm, International Lease Finance Corp, which the insurer attempted to sell for $US3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) but failed to attract a buyer owing to the huge debts on its books.

ILFC ran into trouble after failing to refinance $US30 billion ($32 billion) in debt on some 500 aircraft.

In March, AIG announced the $US35.5 billion ($38 billion) sale of its Asian life unit AIA to Prudential, and the $US15.5 billion ($16.7 billion) sale of American life unit Alico to MetLife.

This month, AIG has also expanded its performance-based pay system for some 30,000 New York-based staff, placing the bottom 20% of employees on notice to “have conversations with their managers”.

The group reported an annual loss of $US0.9 billion ($0.96 billion) earlier this year.