AviLease Acquires Nine Aircraft from Avolon

AviLease, the rising global aircraft lessor owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, has announced its latest acquisition of nine aircraft from global lessor Avolon. This transaction follows last year’s successful purchase of 13 aircraft from Avolon.

The acquired portfolio offers attractive yields and further contributes to the diversification of the AviLease aircraft portfolio, which now comprises of 167 owned aircraft (including purchase commitments) and 23 managed aircraft on lease to 48 airlines globally.

AviLease’s CEO Edward O’Byrne said that they were delighted to close this second transaction with Avolon with whom AviLease has built a strong and mutually beneficial partnership together.

“In the two years since our launch, AviLease has been able to quickly operationalize and ramp-up a profitable leasing platform thanks to our ability to deploy capital across multiple channels,” he added.

Avolon’s CEO Andy Cronin said that they were pleased to partner with AviLease once again following on from their successful transaction in 2023. Trading aircraft has always been an important element of their strategy, with over $13 billion of assets traded since Avolon was founded, he said.

However, Avolon’s shareholder Bohai Leasing, a Chinese firm which is the world’s second largest aircrafts leasing company and fourth largest container leasing company, said that the nine aircraft included an Airbus A350, an A330neo and a Boeing 787-9 plus four Airbus A320-family and two Boeing 737 jets – all on lease to customers, FlightGlobal said in a report.

Bohai Leasing valued the aircraft at $580 million – although the actual negotiated sale price is not given – adding that the aircraft have been sold to optimise the company’s asset structure and improve its competitiveness.

Rapid Growth

AviLease has rapidly expanded over the two years since its creation, by the PIF in mid-2022. It has a portfolio of 167 owned and 23 managed aircraft after the company took over the leasing arm of Standard Chartered last year.

“We have been able to quickly operationalise and ramp-up a profitable leasing platform thanks to our ability to deploy capital across multiple channels,” Edward O’Byrne said.

AviLease took 13 aircraft from Avolon last year, under a separate deal which included A330neo, A320neo and Boeing 737 Max jets as well as older single-aisle models.