Aviation Finance

Aviation Finance Vol. 15 No 19, September 18th 2025. ISSN 2009-7859

Investment in Aviation

New leasing JV to deepen Saudi investment in aviation

AviLease, fresh from having made its first direct aircraft orders earlier this year, is launching a joint venture leasing entity with major Saudi investment manager Hassana Investment Company. The deal sees Avilease, which is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth PIF, take a minority stake and act as service provider to the new entity. CEO Edward O’Byrne said it will be a ‘sacalable platform’ capable of supporting the growth of Saudi Arabia’s aviation ecosystem. Hassana Investment Company is the investment manager of Saudi Arabia's General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) and has in excess of $300 billion under management and the new joint venture will be seeded by 10 aircraft acquired from AviLease's portfolio.


ABS

PK AirFinance issues its largest aircraft loan ABS

PK AirFinance has returned to the market with its second aircraft loan ABS of 2025 which is its largest aircraft loan ABS to date. PK ALIFT 2025-2 marks PK AirFinance’s fourth commercial aircraft loan ABS issuance since July 2024 and brings the company’s cumulative ABS transactions over that period to above $2.5 billion.


Aircraft Leasing

India tax developments and the implications for global aircraft lessors

Following recent aircraft leasing, financing and tax developments in India, notably the recent Indian court decisions that have provided important guidance on the tax treatment of aircraft leases between Indian airlines and overseas aircraft lessors, we feature the views of a number of leading Irish-based tax professionals on the implications for global lessors doing business in India in light of these decisions.

 
In this issue

In this issue

The attractions of the aviation finance business and aviation assets remain strong as seen, in this issue, with a further deepening of Saudi investment in the aircraft leasing sector and the latest successful aviation ABS transaction from PK AirFinance. However, uncertainties in the business environment persist, including in what was the long-settled tax treatment of leasing in certain geographies. We also feature the latest work of the AWG to encourage further adoption of the CTC, while another milestone is reached in one of the large Russian 'stranded assets' cases.


Aircraft Financing

New Enforceability Index shines light on non CTC countries legal practices

The Aviation Working Group (AWG) has published its inaugural Enforceability Index for countries not yet party to the Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Protocol (CTC). The new index, which now sits alongside AWG’s CTC Compliance Index (for countries that have ratified the CTC), assesses the rules within the covered countries in relation to the customary financing and leasing principles of the global aviation and finance market. The index aims to both inform aviation finance stakeholders while encouraging legal authorities to align with the principles of the CTC.


Aircraft Leasing

Insurers can't appeal London judgement in Russia 'stranded assets' case

A group of insurers, including Lloyd's Insurance Company, Chubb and AIG, have failed in their bid to appeal against the London High Court judgement in the Russian 'stranded assets' case. The decision to refuse permission to appeal on all grounds by Judge Christopher Butcher on Tuesday September 16th but a final decision on who bears the sizable legal costs of the case will be made at a later date.