Trusted, expert assessment of the latest industry trends from the respected Ishka team, including regional analysis, airlines, lessors and critical emerging issues.
Key stories include Singapore’s newly-launched sustainable finance Taxonomy (which contains criteria for zero-emission aviation and SAF), and lessor CDB Aviation closes a sustainability-linked loan. more
08/12/2023
Ishka is now accepting submissions for its Deal of the Year Awards. The Ishka Deal of the Year Awards celebrate the best-closed aircraft financings of 2023. more
08/12/2023
Welcome to the 114th ‘Extra’ supplement to Ishka’s Transaction Economics platform, delivering ‘the Ishka View’ on events that have a bearing on aircraft values and lease rates, and the market dynamics that matter in today’s aviation environment. This report examines how aircraft types are faring through current events; which types are in favour; which are ‘on watch’; and which are most exposed or impacted by the evolving aircraft environment. more
07/12/2023
This is the 7th edition of Ishka’s aircraft buyers list, where Ishka summarises a list of potential and active buyers of leased aircraft on the secondary market. Ishka recorded seven new aircraft trades and added three new firms to the list since the last update on September 20th 2023. more
06/12/2023
NordLB is mulling options for its aviation loan business including a potential sale of the platform while Helaba, another German Landesbank, is understood to be winding down its aircraft portfolio as it “pauses” on new aircraft loans, sources tell Ishka. more
05/12/2023
It is often said that the best solution to a problem is the easiest one, and yet as the airline industry pours time and effort into strategies to decarbonise short-haul flying, one readily available option is seldom mentioned: re-fleeting with turboprops. more
04/12/2023
This update’s key stories include Virgin Atlantic’s historic 100% SAF commercial transatlantic flight – both a major milestone and a publicity stunt with mixed reactions – and the EU heads to COP28 pushing for aviation taxes to fund a major climate fund. more
01/12/2023
Lessors indicate that lease rate factors (LRFs) on new deals are starting to rise as more lessors are being forced to price in the current higher cost of debt, which in turn, is increasing the minimum LRFs lessors can offer. more
30/11/2023
Nine aircraft lessors analysed by Ishka acquired 23 aircraft via trades and sold 45 aircraft in the third quarter of 2023. more
29/11/2023
A320ceo availability remains low, with 26 of the variant being actively remarketed on sites analysed by Ishka. more
28/11/2023
Ishka summarises how the major North American airlines performed in Q3 2023. In what is historically the busiest quarter of the year for most airlines, US LCCs particularly struggled with JetBlue, Spirit and Frontier recording decreasing year-on-year revenues. Canadian airlines and US full-service carriers appear to have better mitigated the high fuel prices as well as the cost of capacity build-up. more
27/11/2023
The issue of SAF dominated every panel session at Aircraft Leasing Ireland’s (ALI) second event held this week in Dublin, with a widespread agreement that SAF represented the only credible option for aviation to help meet 2050 net-zero carbon targets. “There is no alternative,” reflected Willie Walsh, the Director-general of IATA at the conference. “We have to accept that the transition to net zero is going to be critically dependent on sustainable aviation fuel.” more
23/11/2023
ALC took delivery of the most new aircraft during October with six, followed by AerCap with four and CDB Leasing with two aircraft. more
22/11/2023
Welcome to the 113th ‘Extra’ supplement to Ishka’s Transaction Economics platform, delivering ‘the Ishka View’ on events that have a bearing on aircraft values and lease rates, and the market dynamics that matter in today’s aviation environment. This report examines how aircraft types are faring through current events; which types are in favour; which are ‘on watch’; and which are most exposed or impacted by the evolving aircraft environment. more
21/11/2023
Boeing delivered 18 737 MAX in October, leaving the company chasing 70 narrowbody deliveries in the final two months of the year in order to meet its latest target. more
20/11/2023
Ishka's asset managers datasheet provides a summary of recent news, activity, and metrics of aircraft asset managers in Q3 2023. more
17/11/2023
US courts have approved a $1.2 billion exit financing deal in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) by a group of investors including Castlelake, Air France-KLM, Lind Invest, and the Danish state, which will see the lessor become the single largest shareholder in the Scandinavian carrier. more
16/11/2023
They are an icon of the jet age, but they can also be terrible for the climate. Ishka looks at why aircraft investors should be mindful of the environmental impacts of contrails. more
15/11/2023
Ishka's capital market wrap-up is a summary of recent activity in aviation debt issuance. more
14/11/2023
Ishka reviews developments in the Australian commercial aviation sector. The market is dominated by Qantas and its subsidiaries, however the flag carrier now finds itself in the midst of a major public relations and governance crisis. We review how it is positioned to deal with the challenges and whether the other airlines in the country can make some inroads into the flag carrier’s dominant market position. more
13/11/2023
Key stories include confirmation that plans to remove an EU tax exemption for jet fuel have hit a snag, and a working paper calls on governments to front 20% of the $5tn cost of decarbonising aviation. more
10/11/2023
Two landmark lawsuits filed by junior bondholders on separate transactions against Ares, Vmo Aircraft Leasing Holdings (Vmo), and Wilmington Trust over “sham” aircraft auctions conducted during the pandemic are progressing through the US courts and could, potentially, be heading to trial next year. more
09/11/2023
Ishka, a knowledge partner of Aviation Carbon 2023, summarises the main takeaways of this week's conference in London. more
08/11/2023
Earliest delivery slots for narrowbodies have extended “into the 2030s,” said ALC chairman Steve Hazy, while widebodies are also being “quickly snapped up”. more
07/11/2023
Welcome to the 112th ‘Extra’ supplement to Ishka’s Transaction Economics platform, delivering ‘the Ishka View’ on events that have a bearing on aircraft values and lease rates, and the market dynamics that matter in today’s aviation environment. more
06/11/2023
This November 2023 issue covers relevant sustainability developments for aviation finance during September and October 2023: sustainable finance, SAF, government policy, and more... more
03/11/2023
Ishka research indicates spreads for new secured aircraft financings experienced a slight tightening of roughly 10-15bps between July and September for airline and leasing credits, despite bank funding costs remaining broadly the same. more
02/11/2023
Kenya Airways is sinking deeper into debt due to the fluctuating Kenyan shilling's impact on its financial stability. The carrier's significant debt of Ksh196.4 billion ($1.3 billion) being primarily dollar-denominated has led to substantial forex losses, amounting to $172 million as of the end of September. more
01/11/2023
AerCap is continuing its strategy of selling off aircraft and buying its own stock, as it announced yet another $500 million share repurchase programme. more
31/10/2023
This week looks at the mixed recovery of major Chinese airlines such as Air Macau, Shenzhen Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. Ishka reviews developments at Sichuan Airlines and its LCC unit, Chengdu Airlines as well as LCCs such as 9 Air and Colorful Guizhou Airlines, who have been aggressive with capacity deployment. more
30/10/2023
Engine lessor Willis Lease Finance Corporation (Willis) has priced its $410-million engine ABS last week. more
30/10/2023
This update’s key stories include the unveiling of a much-awaited SAF feasibility study in Ireland backed by Boeing, Avolon, and Orix Aviation, and the tentative inclusion of SAF in the EU’s response to the US IRA – the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). more
27/10/2023
This Data Sheet provides a snapshot of aircraft currently being remarketed on three of the main remarketing sites. more
26/10/2023
Welcome to the 111th ‘Extra’ supplement to Ishka’s Transaction Economics platform, delivering ‘the Ishka View’ on events that have a bearing on aircraft values and lease rates, and the market dynamics that matter in today’s aviation environment. more
25/10/2023
Ishka speaks with the RMI Centre for Climate-Aligned Finance and one of the Aviation CAF Working Group members, Crédit Agricole CIB, to distill the progress of the past 18 months and what lies ahead. more
24/10/2023
Ishka provides updates on confirmed lessor order books with Airbus and Boeing as of 30th September. more
23/10/2023
This update’s key stories include a leasing first in SMBC Aviation Capital’s five-year $150 million sustainability-linked loan, how a new NGO report in Spain could propel proposals for a French-inspired partial domestic flight ban. more
20/10/2023
Russian insurance firm NSK has made pay-outs to leasing firms CDB Aviation and SMBC Aviation Capital in relation to claims for aircraft previously on lease to Russian flag carrier Aeroflot. more
19/10/2023
737 MAX deliveries fell again in September, bringing down Boeing's monthly output average to 23 for Q3. Ishka reviews key issues facing the two OEMs. more
18/10/2023
Engine lessor Willis Lease Finance Corporation (Willis) has returned to the public ABS market with a $410-million engine securitisation, making it the first aviation issuer to return to the public ABS market in more than 16 months. more
17/10/2023
Spring Airlines, Juneyao Air, Hainan Airlines and Lucky Air all reported strong traffic recovery over the course of 2023, generating exceptionally high operating cash flows in H1 2023. All remained profitable at an operating level, however only Spring Airlines recorded a healthy net profit more
16/10/2023
This update’s key stories include the final approval of ReFuelEU Aviation and German fund manager KGAL making a leap into SAF via its new Article 9 green hydrogen fund. more
13/10/2023
Ishka estimates that 32 airlines globally have repaid approximately $55.79 billion of state aid debt from a total of $98.53 billion borrowed since 2020, a modest increase of $1.225 billion since Ishka’s last update on 29th June 2023. more
12/10/2023
Lessors say they are experiencing a lease ‘extensions boom’ – a dramatic rise in lease extension requests from airlines for current-tech aircraft due to the limited number of available aircraft - which is shaping the secondary aircraft trading market. more
11/10/2023
Welcome to the 110th ‘Extra’ supplement to Ishka’s Transaction Economics platform, delivering ‘the Ishka View’ on events that have a bearing on aircraft values and lease rates, and the market dynamics that matter in today’s aviation environment. more
10/10/2023
This update’s key stories include California Governor Gavin Newsom intending to sign off corporate climate disclosure rules, which could require California-based lessors to disclose Scope 3 emissions. more
09/10/2023
Hundreds of A320neos are set to be grounded over the next three years as Pratt is forced to inspect its PW1100G engines due to faults regarding powdered metal used across several of its components. Ishka reviews what this means for aircraft lessors. more
06/10/2023
The Big 3 Chinese airlines remained loss-making in the first half of 2023 although they significantly narrowed their year-on-year losses. Cathay Pacific posts best H1 profit since 2010. more
05/10/2023
The high-interest rate environment is likely to persist for some time, agreed a panel of lessor CEOs on the second day of October’s ISTAT EMEA conference in London. more
04/10/2023
Both new-tech and current-tech widebodies have seen a decline in expected unlevered returns in the last six months, according to Ishka’s latest aircraft asset managers survey, a sign that investors and lessors have increased confidence in the demand for larger aircraft. more
03/10/2023