Canada’s Chorus launches aircraft leasing subsidiary

Chorus Aviation, the parent company of Canadian regional carrier Jazz Aviation, will establish an aircraft leasing subsidiary, Chorus Aviation Capital. Chorus has been seeking to diversify its business beyond Jazz’s capacity purchase agreement with Air Canada, which provides the bulk of the company’s revenue. It began engaging in leasing seriously last year, and took the leasing business a step further last month when it announced it was buying and leasing 4 Bombardier CRJ1000s to Spain’s Air Nostrum. The first of those CRJ1000s was delivered to Air Nostrum in November and the second is expected to be delivered this month. Fairfax Financial Holdings will invest US$149.7m in Chorus to buttress the new leasing subsidiary, which is expected to focus on leasing regional jets and turboprop aircraft to airlines around the world. <br/>