Rising travel demand sparks Avolon’s busiest three months

Rising demand for air travel sparked aircraft lessor Avolon’s busiest three months in its history at the end of 2021, the Irish company said on Monday.

Dublin-headquartered Avolon completed 95 deals in the final three months of last year, including leasing new aircraft, follow-on leases and extensions.

Dómhnal Slattery, chief executive, said vaccines and easing Government Covid-19 curbs drove a rebound in flying during 2021.

“The scale of pent up demand for travel, and airlines moving to meet that demand, resulted in our fourth quarter being the most active period for leasing activity in our history,” he added.

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Mr Slattery predicted that aviation would face more challenges this year, but said that the market was fundamentally strong.

Last year Avolon invested in zero-emissions aircraft maker, Vertical Aerospace, which listed on the Nasdaq in November.

Demand

Mr Slattery said that the strong demand for these aircraft from leading airlines showed those carriers believed that they would be a “game changer”.

The company has a $2 billion (€1.7 billion) order for up to 500 of VX4 EVTOL zero emissions aircraft.

Avolon uses its own cash and debt to buy planes from manufacturers including Airbus and Boeing, which it then leases to airlines around the world.

The company grew its fleet last year by 4 per cent to 592 owned and managed aircraft.

Last year it delivered 49 new planes and transferred 23 existing aircraft to a total of 30 customers.

It completed 229 leases, including new deals, follow-ons and extensions, while it sold 16 aircraft.

Avolon borrowed $3.7 billion at 2.5 per cent interest and increased its total revolving debt to $5.9 billion from $4.8 billion.