Airfinance Journal

Exciting news! 🌟 Airfinance Journal is thrilled to launch our inaugural Rising Stars series, spotlighting six exceptional Aviation finance legal associates for 2023. We're kicking off the series with the remarkable: 🌟 Mark Leventhal - Smith Gambrell Russell Mark Leventhal serves as a senior associate at Smith Gambrell Russell (SGR) in New York, contributing to the firm's esteemed global transport group. An English-qualified solicitor, Mark works under the guidance of SGR's New York-qualified attorneys as he pursues his New York law qualification. Before joining SGR in 2022, Mark honed his skills in the aviation finance team at Norton Rose Fulbright, gaining invaluable experience in their London and Paris offices. His expertise spans a diverse range of cross-border finance and leasing transactions, including export credit-supported financings, aircraft non-payment insurance financings, and joint venture leasing transactions, among others. Stay tuned as we continue to showcase the rising stars shaping the future of aviation finance! ✈️ Read more about this year's Rising Stars - part 1 - here: https://bit.ly/49KZDjK Want to know more about Airfinance's solutions? https://bit.ly/46L9VQl For details on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 Airline Financial Ratings: https://bit.ly/4aHthYp 👩💻, The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻 #RisingStars #AviationFinance #LegalAssociates #AirfinanceJournal #aviationlawyers #aviationfinancesolutions

Guiney to join Macquarie Group   🛫 The past week saw numerous appointments and departures on Airfinance Journal. On 19 April, we revealed Lynn Guiney is set to join Macquarie AirFinance as the head of airline marketing.   Guiney has held various leadership roles throughout her career.   Previously, she served as an independent consultant through her company, SolÉir, where she worked on fund-raises for lessor start-ups and advised investors and advisors in the aviation sector.   Guiney has also championed ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives in aviation. During her tenure at Avolon, she led the EMEA team and forged relationships with over 50 airlines and 150 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.   Read Laura M.'s full article here: https://bit.ly/3W60597   For details on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 Airline Financial Ratings: https://bit.ly/4aHthYp 👩💻, The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻   Congratulations, Lynn, on your new role! 🎉   #Aviation #leadership #ESG #NewBeginnings #aircraftlessors #aircraftleasing #aviationfinance #AirfinanceJournal #TheLessorAnalyst #aircraftlessors #lessors #airlines✈️📊🌱

#Exclusive: KfW IPEX Bank names new origination aviation head 🛫 German lender KfW IPEX-Bank has announced the appointment of Barbara Behrends-Troost as the new Team Head of Origination for Aviation and Land-Based Transportation! 🚚 Barbara brings a wealth of experience, having been with KfW IPEX-Bank for 14 years, previously serving as Team Head in Maritime Industries. 🚢 Her journey began in 2010 when she joined the bank from Moody's Investors Service, where she held the role of Vice President Analyst for two years. 📈 Read more: https://bit.ly/3Qbhz05 Congratulations to Barbara on this exciting new chapter! 🎉 For details on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 Airline Financial Ratings: https://bit.ly/4aHthYp 👩💻, The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻 #AviationNews #NewAppointment #KfWIPEXBank #IndustryLeadership #Aviation #AirfinanceJournal #Airlines #aircraftinvestors #IndustryInsights #aviationfinance

#Analysis: Unveiling Inequality Among Airlines 🛫 What do Airfinance Journal's Airline Financial Ratings say about the industry post-Covid? Mapping our numerical scores to an S&P rating scale gives us – whisper it – 38 “investment grade” airlines. Having navigated the devastation of Covid, these are now enjoying benign market conditions featuring a shortage of capacity and strong demand. Some have also de-levered to a significant degree. We reached this conclusion by reviewing our Airline Financial Ratings. This is a simple rating of the intrinsic financial strength of individual airlines using an algorithm applied to over 300 airlines in The Airline Analyst. Who are these #airlines? Airfinance's subscribers can drill down into up to 10 years of historical numbers. And, which banks and lessors have the biggest exposure to the CCC and CC “rated” airlines? Well, answering such questions is what the AFJ data intelligence platform is all about. Read Michael Duff's full article here: https://bit.ly/3Js7cBk For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 Airline Financial Ratings: https://bit.ly/4aHthYp 👩💻, The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻 #Aviation #AirfinanceJournal #Airlines #AirlineFinancials #FinancialRatings #IndustryInsights #airlinefinancialratings #aircraftinvestors #aircraftinvestment #aircraftlessors

🌏 Phenomenal growth rates of Chinese economy and traffic are over: Adam Pilarski The remarkable growth of China's aviation sector over the past 50 years has been instrumental in shaping modern aviation. After years of extraordinary expansion, China now boasts traffic levels that surpass nearly every other nation, second only to the USA. This achievement is commendable and enviable to many around the globe. However, it has also prompted intense scrutiny from manufacturers, analysts, and aviation executives alike, all eagerly anticipating China's continued growth trajectory. 🛫 Read Olivier Bonnassies' full article here: https://bit.ly/49C6dck For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻. #ChinaAviation #AviationTrends #GlobalEconomy #aviationfinance #aicraftleasing #globalaviation #aircraftmanufacturers #Boeing

Jolco transactions are set for a bright 2024, according to SMFL! 🌟 The market for Japanese operating lease (Jol) and Japanese operating lease with call option (Jolco) aircraft financings has rebounded, especially in the second half of the last fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024. While the appetite for big-ticket widebody financings remains moderate compared to pre-pandemic levels, overall volumes, and confidence have returned among Japanese investors. Many are now targeting smaller or older assets to optimize their corporate tax bills. 💼💰 According to Shinichiro Watanabe, Managing Executive Officer and Head of the Transportation Business Unit at Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL Capital), 2023 saw a notable uptick in Jol transactions. Despite initial challenges in the first half of the year due to the weak Japanese yen against the US dollar, the market regained momentum. “Even in this exchange rate environment, from a tax savings perspective, aircraft investments still make sense for Japanese investors to lower their corporate tax bills,” Watanabe tells AFJ. Read Dominic Lalk's article here: 🔗📰 https://bit.ly/43XB8OU For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻. #jolco #japaneseoperatinglease #aicraftinvestors #airlines #lessors #AirfinanceJournal #Thelessoranalyst #theairlineanalyst #transportation

#Exclusive: Sky Leasing plans portfolio sell-off SKY Leasing has appointed Morgan Stanley to explore selling its portfolio as part of the lessor’s successful business strategy of recycling capital by raising and distributing funds backed by aircraft, market sources tell Airfinance Journal. ✈️ According to Airfinance Journal's Fleet Tracker, Sky Leasing ended 2023 with 80 aircraft, more than doubling its portfolio after completing the acquisition of 49 aircraft. Sky Leasing’s chief executive officer, Austin Wiley, previously told Airfinance Journal that the platform is likely to surpass 100 aircraft by the end of the year. Read Laura M.'s article: https://bit.ly/3JfrHRl For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻. #aviationfinance #TheLessorAnalyst #AirfinanceJournal #TheAirlineAnalyst #lessors #aircraftleasing #aircraftlessor #airlines

We'd like to share the results of our recent survey asking respondents if they “loved” or “loathed” IFRS 16! 😊   We received 34 responses, mostly from lessors and airlines, with some very helpful open comments. 📊   Over half of the respondents have accepted that IFRS 16 is here to stay. They use the numbers as they are and do not make any adjustments to reflect the effect of the average remaining lease term or to make IFRS 16 financial statement treatment of operating lease assets comparable with US GAAP reporters.   However, the remaining respondents who feel that IFRS 16 has made airline analysis more difficult have strong views and a lot of conviction about the need to make adjustments, such as those mentioned above. Conveniently, The Airline Analyst already offers such adjustments based on interest on ROU liabilities and depreciation on ROU assets. 💡   The chart below is a reminder that IFRS 16 and the US equivalent ASC 842 are not ubiquitous across the industry. As shown, the number of "Local GAAP" airlines exceeds the sum of the US and IFRS reporting airlines. The "Local GAAP" category includes some very important airlines such as the Japanese majors and most Chinese airlines operating mostly domestically. ✈️   Airline analysts, we are currently working on a major study of the comparability of airline financial statements and the consequent over and under-reporting of leverage. Stay tuned for updates!   And if you'd like to complete our two-minute survey on the topic, please click on this link: https://bit.ly/3VDg4eu 📝   For more details on The Airline Analyst: https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻.    #AirfinanceJournal #TheAirlineAnalyst #aviationfinance #IFRS16 #USGAAP #LocalGAAP #Airlinefinancials #financialstatements #airlinereporting #airlineanalysts

#Analysis: 737 Max 8 faces big competition 🛬 As Boeing continues its struggles to restore its reputation, the company is reliant on its baseline single-aisle aircraft, the 737 Max 8, to retain market share against the competing Airbus models.   An initial look at the numbers might suggest that things aren’t going too badly for the US manufacturer. With over 4,640 orders, total sales of the Max 8 and the similarly-sized Max 200 exceed those of the directly competing A320 model, which has accumulated 4,120 orders.     This is of course only part of the story, as Airbus is dominating the market for larger models, with the A321neo recording over 6,060 sales compared to 1,250 for Boeing’s Max 9 and Max 10 variants. Read Geoff Hearn's piece on Airfinance Journal https://lnkd.in/ejSz2yMP #MRO #aviationfinance #aircraftmanufacturer #aircraft #A321neo #airbus #boeing #A320 #737max8 For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻.

How Long Can an Airline Run on Empty? ✈️💼   The holy grail of risk metrics for many financiers is a borrower's leverage ratio: its total liabilities or total debt divided by tangible net worth. This is a simple and uncontroversial metric. However, it is not applicable in all circumstances.   The problem is that airlines are no strangers to negative equity. A total of 64 of the 330 airlines covered by The Airline Analyst had negative equity – totalling $688 billion – as of 2022! Leading the pack were American Airlines, Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras and Pakistan International Airlines. Except for a purple patch from 2014 to 2016 American Airlines has had negative equity every year going back to the start of The Airline Analyst data in 2006. See the chart below for further insights.   And how many have gone out of business? Very few, although many have been through a major restructuring in the last two to three years at some significant cost to financiers.   What are the secrets of those who have avoided financial difficulty? Read more here: https://bit.ly/3J8dvtz   For more detail on our different aviation financial data offerings visit: 🌐📊 The Lessor Analyst https://bit.ly/47LtFTP 👩💻, The Airline Analyst https://bit.ly/3HPMxq1 👩💻, and Fleet Tracker https://bit.ly/42Bdbw5 👩💻. #airlines #TheAirlineAnalyst #aircraftinvestors #aircraftlessors #aircraftleasing #TheLessorAnalyst #fleettracker #aviationfinance