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Lessors dominate at Farnborough

Asian carriers have been making headlines at Farnborough with Hong Kong Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Garuda and Thai Airways all signing deals – but it’s the leasing industry which is hogging the limelight.

The latest leasing deals include RBS Aviation Capital, which ordered 52 Airbus A320-family aircraft and 43 Boeing 737s, giving a combined value of more than $7.6 billion at list prices.

RBS shot from relative obscurity to become one of the biggest leasing companies in the world outside the big two of Gecas and ILFC, before the parent company had to be bailed out during the financial crisis – the company is still majority-owned by the UK government. The latter is looking to divest its stake, although the deal is clearly still a risk for UK tax payers.

New Irish leasing company Avalon, meanwhile, is also spending $920m on 12 Boeing 737s. Earlier this week, GECAS came in for an order for 60 Airbus A320s and 40 737-800s, while Steve Udvar-Hazy made a return to the leasing limelight with an order for 51 A320s for his new venture Air Lease Corp.

Up until this year’s recovery, leasing companies had pretty much been in survival mode, with only BOC Aviation and ICBC having money to play with. One industry source said that BOC is expected to announce a big deal soon.

Also at Farnborough, meanwhile, Air Lease Corporation ordered 10 new ATR 72-600 regional turboprop aircraft, and placed options for a further 10. The aircraft are planned for delivery starting in the fourth quarter of 2011. South-East Asia has been a hot-spot for ATR.

Udvar-Hazy said, “We are delighted to order these ATR 72-600s, which will complement our portfolio of narrow and wide-body aircraft. Air Lease has identified a number of opportunities for these aircraft among our existing and future customers.” Air Lease has also signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the sale of 15 EMBRAER 190 jets

Asian carriers were also announcing orders. Hong Kong Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus to acquire 15 A350 XWBs and 10 more A330-200s. Under the terms of the agreement, the airline is converting 15 existing A330 orders to A350 XWBs and placing an additional order for 10 A330-200s. Deliveries of the additional A330-200s will begin in 2012, with the first A350 XWB arriving in 2018.

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, has placed a firm order with Airbus for six long range A330-200 aircraft. Scheduled for delivery from the fourth quarter of 2012, the newly ordered aircraft will join a fleet of four recently delivered leased A330-200s and six owned A330-300s already in service at the airline.

Thai Airways International (THAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus for the purchase of seven more A330-300s. The aircraft will be delivered from the end of 2011 and will join an existing fleet of 20 A330-300s flying to destinations across the Asia-Pacific region.

Boeing and Royal Jordanian, meanwhile, signed an order for three 787-8s, valued at approximately US$500 million at list prices. This order previously was attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website.

Direct purchases and leases combined, Royal Jordanian has committed to 11 787-8s. The Middle East carrier placed its first orders for four 787s in 2007 and also has arranged to lease two aircraft each from CIT Aerospace and International Lease Finance Co.

Royal Jordanian was the first airline in the Middle East to order the 787 Dreamliner. It will place the 787 on North American routes initially, including New York, Chicago, Detroit and Toronto.

Airbus, meanwhile, announced that its latest joint venture in China, Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre has signed a contract for the work package of A350 XWB belly fairing parts with Spain-based Alestis Aerospace. As one of Airbus’ tier one suppliers, Alestis is specialized in the design, development, certification, manufacturing and support of complex carbon fiber aerostructure.