June 26, 2019, © Leeham News: Airlines and lessors are making plans to extend leases by up to one year as the Boeing 737 MAX grounding drags on with no end in sight and carriers scramble to cover their routes, LNA is told.
Shortly after the MAX was grounded, on March 13, airlines began extending leases on airplanes that were to be replaced by the MAX up to six months.
This was until the September-October timeframe.
Now, with estimates that the Federal Aviation Administration may not be ready to lift its grounding order until then—and other regulators may come later—airlines see a need for another lease extension.
Lessors are not interested in another six month extension, however, LNA is told.
June 20, 2019, © Airfinance Journal: By day four of the Paris Air Show, most of the OEMs had already wrapped up their deal-making, but there was still time for Airbus to tempt another two airlines and another lessor towards the A321XLR and the A220-300 products.
Airbus and CFM are the manufacturers that will leave Paris the happiest, although ATR was keen to make its case, citing 75 “new orders” at the show. However, in line with the odd phrasing employed by most marketing departments this week, it was difficult to discern what those “orders” meant. ATR said they included “35 firm orders from NAC disclosed on June 18”, but its press release about that deal described only a “letter of intent for 35 firm ATR -600s, with options for a further 35 and purchase rights for another 35.”
By Judson Rollins
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News, Paris: Airbus launched its much-awaited A321XLR today with an initial order of 27 airplanes from lessor Air Lease Corp. ALC also ordered another 23 A321neos, which can optionally be taken as A321LRs. This brings ALC’s total Airbus order count to 387, making it Airbus’s third largest lessor.
Airbus also announced that ALC has ordered 50 A220-300s to be delivered between 2021 and 2026. ALC is the largest lessor to date to order the former C-Series aircraft. ALC executive chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said, “We believe this aircraft will be a wonderful replacement for aging A319s, 737s, Fokker 100, BAe-146s, and other smaller jet aircraft.”
The order is structured as a letter of intent. ALC chief executive John Plueger said the LoI covers “all commercial business points” but that it will be converted to a firm order once certain terms are firmed on the A220 portion of the order.
Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer declined to discuss catalog pricing for the A321XLR.
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Jan. 4, 2019, © Leeham News: This is not the year where China’s COMAC will have break-out progress for the C919, its challenge to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
Flight testing is slow and entry into service (EIS) is now targeted for 2021—a slip of five years from the original schedule.
The C919 launch-to-EIS is approaching the eight years record of the ARJ21.
But these delays don’t mean COMAC isn’t making progress.
Jan. 3, 2019, © Leeham News: The US private equity fund KKR agreed to invest $1bn in boutique lessor Altavair, a deal that includes taking a 50% stake in the company.
KKR may supplement the investment with additional commitments, the companies said.
By Bjorn Fehrm
April 04, 2018, © Leeham News.: In the first article about Long-Haul LCC and if it’s a viable business, we looked at ticket pricing strategy used by airlines to maximize revenue on a route. Now we look at the cost side of the equation.
The cost level for a Long-Haul LCC is of utmost importance. A lower cost level than the Legacy carriers flying the same routes is the only way the company can compete. It’s seldom it offers origins or destinations not offered by other airlines. Its mission is to offer a popular air transport service at a lower cost.
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March 22, 2018, © Leeham Co.: As Boeing enters the final stretch whether to launch the New Midrange Aircraft (NMA, aka 797) market focus should shift to the engines more than the airframe and even the market demand.
It all comes down to this: no engines, no plane.
Monday’s post outlined some of the issues to consider.
But there are larger implications as well.
Special to Leeham News
By Jack Dutton
Jan. 25, 2018, © Airfinance Journal, Dublin: The opacity of the industry in regard to asset prices is one of the main challenges for aircraft lenders and investors, according to a panel of investors speaking at the 20th Annual Global Airfinance Conference in Dublin.
“The lack of transparency on pricing is your biggest challenge as an aircraft lender or holder. The leasing companies were in the best position to hold good pricing information,” said David Andrews, managing partner of transport, Hudson Structured Capital Management.
Special to Leeham News
By Michael Allen
Jan. 25, 2018, © Airfinance Journal, Dublin: “We get asked to value a portfolio of 35-aircraft,” says Rikard de Jounge vice president – asset valuations at Avitas.
“No one tells you that the valuation is for an ABS transaction. They just ask for market and base values,” he adds.
Stuart Hatcher, head of intelligence at IBA Group, says it is still a “secretive market”.
“Providing that we are dealing with sellers, the information is generally good. The issue we tend to find is with the arrangers. And the communication can be quite sporadic,” he says.
The other issue is how much you are including into a valuation for a lease-attached aircraft.