The Aviation Finance Conference 2018: industry leaders on the aviation finance industry of 2025 and beyond
The Aviation Finance Conference 2018 which takes place next October 2nd-3rd in Dublin, Ireland, will hear from an exceptional line-up of industry thought leaders on how the aviation finance eco-system is set to evolve in the context of potential demand patterns for aircraft financing amidst record order backlogs and increasing OEM run rates. Betsy Snyder of S&P (right), who recently co-authored one of the most comprehensive analyses of ABS in aviation financing since the financial crisis, is the latest global aviation finance thought leader to join AFC 2018's panel of speakers along with other top aircraft financiers, lessors, bankers and OEMs. See inside for a preview of the latest speakers and for booking details.

The conference will provide an unique analysis of the medium and long term capital markets and structural issues facing aircraft financing, with forensic sessions on leasing, trading, aircraft assets, and supply side issues featuring some of the world's leading thought leaders, including, amongst the speakers so far announced:

  • - Robert Morin, Managing Director, AFIC, a former head of aviation division, US Exim
  • - Betsy Snyder, lead analyst, Aviation ABS, Standard & Poors, New York,
  • - Neil Sorahan, Chief Financial Officer, Ryanair
  • - Peter Chang, President and CEO, CDB Aviation
  • - John Leenane, Head of Trading, CDB Aviation
  • - Phil Seymour, ISTAT Board member and Chief Executive, IBA
  • - Helane Becker, Managing Director, Industrials/Consumer - Airlines, Cowen, New York
  • - Marjan Riggi, Senior Managing Director, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, New York
  • - Ruth Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Goshawk
  • - Kieran O'Keefe, Managing Director, Aviation Financial Consultancy, DVB Bank


Watch this space for new speaker announcements as some of the world's biggest names from airlines, investment banking, and the aircraft leasing industry join AFC2018 in coming days.

Responsible for the sustainable funding of expensive depreciating assets with lives of up to 25 years, and even longer in some cases, it is in the nature of those working in the aviation finance industry to take a medium to long-term view. The panel of thought leaders at the Aviation Finance Conference will be positioned to do that highlighting risks and exposures that such a longer-term perspective necessarily demands.
Click here to book your place at the Aviation Finance Conference.



The Plenary Session, which will be shared with Financial Centres Conference 2018, will place aviation finance firmly and squarely in a session that will address global capital markets issues, between the great and emerging financial centres, namely US, UK-EU 27, as Brexit looms, and Asia, whose emerging presence is ever more evident in aircraft financing.

Bob Morin heads up the Marsh/Boeing Aircraft Finance Insurance Consortium (AFIC) as Managing Director and Transaction & Business Development Leader, which is enjoying big success, arranging close to $1.5 billion in financing on 16 Boeing aircraft for five customers in its first year. Prior to the launch of AFIC, Morin was Senior Vice President of Business and Product Development at EXIM Bank and before that had been the Vice President of its Transportation Division for more than 15 years and has been responsible for the expansion of EXIM Bank’s aircraft financing programme from a portfolio of approximately 300 aircraft to more than 1,100 commercial aircraft leased to airlines and aircraft leasing companies around the world out of the US and securing more than $50 billion in EXIM Bank loan guarantees.

Leading analysts whose names will be familiar to Aviation Finance readers will identify the factors that will be of greatest influence. They include Betsy Snyder, who has a special interest in aircraft lessors and the airline industry. She is a Director in S&P Global Ratings Corporate Ratings group, a Trustee of the ISTAT Foundation and a member of the ISTAT International Appraisers’ Program Board of Governors.

She will joined by Cowen MD Helane Becker, who over a Wall Street career spanning 30 years has become renowned for her understanding of the dynamics of the airline and aircraft leasing sectors and by Marjan Riggi, Senior Managing Director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, who brings decades of multi-sector expertise in the analysis of banks, specialty finance and securitisations, will give their thoughts on how the current industry dynamics will shape the industry to 2025 and beyond. Riggi has been to the forefront of KBRA's pioneering push in aircraft assets analysis since the financial crisis.

They session they lead, chaired by Aviation Finance Contributing editor Joe Gill, will explore essential business concerns facing the aviation finance industry, such as the cost and availability of capital from different sources, the likelihood of fundamental shifts in the composition of the aviation capital market, the real impact of interest rate changes in the short to medium term and the role to be played by lessors as they continue to evolve. Other outstanding industry figures featuring include: ISTAT Board member Phil Seymour, President and CEO of leading aviation consultancy IBA Group.

CDB Aviation, sponsored by the world's largest development bank, has its eyes set firmly on taking its place as a major international aircraft lessor. Its CEO and President, Peter Chang, will spell out how he intends to develop its business model to achieve this. The Conference will also provide a platform for delegates to gain insights into the evolving business model strategies of leading aircraft lessors, many of them headquartered in Ireland where the Conference is being held, in Dublin Castle on October 2-3rd next. His colleague John Leenane, Head of Trading at CDB Aviation, will provide a focus on trading matters, risk, deals, and value in a session at the event - the Commercial Aircraft Trading Forum.

(The first tranche of advance 'Earlybird' booking rates apply for delegates booking before August 17th - see details here).

CEO Ruth Kelly is another industry leader who has shown the way forward in five years she has taken Goshawk Aviation from startup to a 'top 10' full-service aircraft leasing platform by demonstrating innovation in its approach to both sides of the balance sheet. With many industry 'firsts' to its credit, Goshawk reached a level of real maturity in 2018 with the acquisition of the business of Sky Leasing, adding 51 young, liquid aircraft with long leases to expand its fleet to 183 aircraft with a value of $9.1 billion, and most recently at Farnborough where it placed its first direct order with a manufacturer - for 20 Airbus A320neos. Kelly will share with delegates her understanding of what the future will hold for aircraft lessors in the medium and longer-term in respect of deploying capital in aircraft and aviation.

And how will their customers, the airlines, view the future? In a must-see interview, Neil Sorahan, Chief Financial Officer of one of the world's most successful airlines, Ryanair, will explore how airlines will fund fleets in the next decade and, in particular, how this will differ from what they are doing today and the implications this will have for providers of capital and of assets.

And also addressing the topic of airline fleet financing strategies of the future, Kieran O'Keefe, Managing Director, Aviation Financial Consultancy, at DVB Bank, will discuss issues around Debt v Equity, the impact of new accounting standards on debt measures and the competing challenges of narrowbody v widebody financing.

Vol. 8 Issue 16 of Aviation Finance