News
Lessors on a roll
January 27th 2017
Last year was an important year for the region’s lessors, with all of them increasing their fleets and securing new airline customers. Read More »
Hong Kong-headquartered China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (CALC) said it delivered 18 A320 aircraft and signed 14 future rental contracts during the year. CALC’s customer base grew to include Air Macau, China Eastern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, West Air, Lucky Air, Jetstar Pacific and Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines. On December 29, CALC announced its first U.S. customer; a deal with Hawaiian Airlines for an A321neo scheduled for delivery in 2018.
At December 31, CALC owned 81 Airbus aircraft. It has 92 additional jets on order to 2022. For 2017, CALC forecasts it will deliver “not less than 17 new aircraft”. On Wednesday, CALC announced it has signed a “long term lease” with Thai AirAsia for an A320 with “delivery expected in 2017”.
HNA Group-owned Avolon said 2016 was “a transformational year” for the lessor following the completion of its acquisition by Bohai Leasing, the integration of Hong Kong Aviation Capital (HKAC) into its business, the $2 billion purchase of 45 aircraft from GECAS, its agreement to acquire CIT Leasing for $10 billion and the delivery of 74 aircraft.
At year-end 2016, Avolon had 85 airline customers in 40 countries. The Dublin-headquartered lessor’s owned, managed and committed fleet grew 69% year-on-year to 435 aircraft (not including CIT’s portfolio). When the CIT deal is finalized, the fleet will double to approximately 900 aircraft.
Singapore’s BOC Aviation on Wednesday announced it has successfully renewed its Aircraft Leasing Scheme (ALS) for five years through to 2022. The ALS is an incentive scheme under which aircraft leasing income is taxed at a concessionary tax rate, rather than the prevailing corporate tax rate in Singapore of 17%. Because of ALS, BOC is eligible for certain additional tax-related exemptions.
AerCap Holdings on Monday announced it has signed a lease agreement for 20 new aircraft with Hangzhou-headquartered Loong Air, although the two parties stopped short of specifying the aircraft type or delivery dates. However, comments by Loong’s chairman, Liu Qihong, indicate the airline and AerCap have struck a wide-body deal.
"After three years of development, Loong Air has become part of the Chinese aviation industry's backbone, with clear strength in its business fundamentals and significant development potential. Hangzhou is accelerating its pace of becoming an international metropolis. Following this successful beginning, we will look into the potential to introduce wide-body aircraft for mid-to-long-range international routes,” Liu said.
Loong operates 19 A320ceos on domestic routes. In 2013, it confirmed an order for 11 A320ceos and nine A320neos from Airbus. According to Airbus data, seven of the ceos have been delivered. Loong also holds a Letter of Intent with Bombardier for 20 CS100s.
