Lessors seem to be Unshockable — February 2023

The operating lease industry has come through the pandemic, successfully dealing with the threat of airline bankruptcies and lease defaults. Then all the leased aircraft in Russia were seized. Then interest rates, which represent by far their largest cost element, soared. This has all resulted in a situation where the leading lessors are claiming fundamental strong financial health with a very positive outlook.

In fact, the fall-out from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a serious impact on the lessors’ profitability but they have responded by publishing two net income figures — the actual result and one adjusted for write-offs they have had to make on aircraft leased to Aeroflot and other Russian airlines.