Dublin-based Aercap traded 157 aircraft in first quarter

Dublin-based aircraft leasing giant Aercap leased, bought and sold 157 aircraft in the first quarter of this year, it said in a trading update on Tuesday.

The company, which buys aircraft from manufacturers and leases them to airlines around the world, said in recent weeks that it earned $1 billion (€895 million) profit last year.

On Tuesday, it outlined that it had signed 102 lease agreements for 14 widebody aircraft, 62 narrowbody aircraft, two regional jets, eight engines and 16 helicopters.

It also completed 25 purchases for 23 aircraft, including 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, one Airbus A220, two engines, and four Boeing 737 Max aircraft for AerCap’s owned portfolio, and three aircraft for its managed portfolio.

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The group also executed 30 sale transactions for 26 aircraft, including two Airbus A320s, three Airbus A320neo family aircraft, two Airbus A330s, three Boeing 737NGs, one Boeing 767-300ER, and two Boeing 777-200ERs.

The rest of the transactions included two engines, two helicopters, one Boeing 737-300SF, five Embraer E190 E2s and one Embraer E190 from AerCap’s owned aircraft portfolio, and six aircraft from its managed portfolio.

It signed financing transactions for approximately $2.1 billion during the quarter.

This time last year, Aercap said it signed 60 new leases with airlines in 15 different countries over the first three months of the year, as it witnessed the highest demand for planes since before the pandemic began.

Speaking in recent weeks, Aengus Kelly, Aercap chief executive, confirmed that the company filed claims totalling $3.5 billion with insurers for more than 100 aircraft that it was unable to recover from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Responding to questions from investors’ analysts, Peter Juhas, AerCap’s chief financial officer, added that it believed insurers would contest these claims.

However, Mr Kelly stressed that Aercap’s insurance claims were valid. “We intend to aggressively pursue all our claims on all our policies,” he said.

Terminated leases

Aercap terminated leases on 135 aircraft and 14 engines with Russian airlines as the EU and US imposed sanctions following the invasion. The Irish company has repossessed 22 planes and continues to pursue airlines for the remaining aircraft.

Mr Juhas remarked that the country’s carriers were flying many of Aercap’s planes illegally as a consequence.

Aercap faces a potential net loss of $2.5 billion on the aircraft that remain in Russia. The company calculates that those planes amount to 5 per cent by value of its entire fleet.

It was also earning $33 million a month in rent on the planes it had leased to the country. Aercap will begin accounting for the financial impact of this as it reports results through this year.

Aercap owned or managed 3,701 planes, helicopters and engines around the world by the end of last year.

The company continues to see strong recovery in air travel as countries reopen following Covid-19 lockdowns.