BOC Aviation scoops up deals with airlines in sector's biggest crisis

Armed with strong funding, Asian lessor BOC Aviation has struck an estimated $5.5b of deals with carriers including Southwest and United to buy and lease back aircraft as the sector faces its deepest ever crisis. BOC Aviation CE Robert Martin also said that the Singapore-headquartered lessor had 100% of its fleet on lease after reaching three-month partial payment deferral deals with many customers. “Our general approach has been to talk about a three-month deferral where we maybe defer around half of their rent and then have them pay back whenever their strong period is later in the year,” Martin said Tuesday. The pandemic has spurred BOC Aviation into a flurry of deals to purchase and lease back aircraft this year, with transactions agreed on more favourable pricing terms for the firm than would have been achieved in a stronger market, Martin said. “If you are brave enough to step out where others dare not venture then obviously the pricing is different,” he said, adding that BOC Aviation had mostly completed its purchase and leaseback deals for this year.<br/>