Why leasing is more profitable, and less risky
One of America's leading aviation and aircraft leasing analysts, Gary Liebowitz, of Wells Fargo Securities cites a chart published in the first issue of this publication in his latest (October 12th) regular commentary on the industry Leibo's Leasing Letter. The chart, supplied by Avolon's Dick Forsberg, shows that, as a group, aircraft lessors remained solidly profitable through cyclical economic downturns – 'unlike their global airline customers that have a 20-year cumulative net margin of approximately zero'. It should be noted though that the 'Airline Net Income Margin' line (see top line in the table) aggregates the performance of LCCs and legacy airlines. Also there is a feeling amongst some analysts that backward - looking profits in leasing may not be repeated in the future, as future residual value performance may not be as good as in the past.

Opportunity for those with solutions as a new aircraft financing gap opens up
Amid the current financial uncertainty some very fundamental assumptions inherent to the nuts and bolts of how airline operational business models function and how their aircraft financing needs are addressed are being challenged. CIAN DOOLEY on the current financing landscape.

Comment: Market volatility could accelerate aircraft lessors' share of commercial fleet
October 5th: Turmoil in global financial markets has led to very significant share price movements in the world’s airlines. Share price declines of up to 50% have been recorded in the past three months, as investors have fled from cyclical and capital intensive companies. This development, coupled with challenges in the commercial banking market, creates a new debate about the aircraft leasing industry. How can it prosper amid the current volatility?

Modern treasury issues in aircraft finance
By deploying a suite of treasury tools including new instruments such as aircraft secured bonds and other new leasing options, as well as new and tried and trusted balance sheet hedging strategies, airlines can optimise their myriad of exposures to both P&L and balance sheet while ensuring the smooth daily operation of the carrier. We plan to explore all of these issues in greater detail in future editions of Aviation Finance, Joe Gill writes.