Commercial aircraft delivery funds tumbled 40% in 2020

Airlines, lessors and other financiers laid out $59b for the purchase of new commercial aircraft in 2020 – a full 40% less funding than was available in 2019. That is according to Boeing’s latest aircraft finance report, which puts financial figures behind 2020’s decline in aircraft deliveries. The report also shows that North American customers accounted for a much larger share of funding for Boeing jets than in previous years. That development reflects a pandemic-flattened year in which US airlines – which secured sizeable government financial aid - received an outsized portion the new aircraft. Boeing’s 2020 deliveries also suffered from the 737 Max’s grounding, which US regulators lifted in November, and 787 quality issues that led Boeing to halt 787 deliveries after October. The $59b that went toward new-aircraft deliveries in 2020 is down from $98bin 2019. It is less even than the $62b that funded new aircraft one decade earlier, in 2010, according to the report, called “Current Aircraft Finance Market Outlook 2021”.<br/>