A new agreement between aircraft lessors SDH Wings International Leasing and AviLease will see the latter supply up to 20 ‘predominately new technology’ narrowbodies from its current portfolio and future acquisition pipeline.
Building on the success of AviLease’s acquisition of Standard Chartered aircraft leasing business in November 2023, the global aircraft lessor (now wholly owned by PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund) is now able to further develop its relationship with SDH Wings. AviLease acquired a 10% share of SDH in November as part of the Standard Chartered merger.
AviLease and SDH Wings have already identified the first five aircraft from AviLease’s owned portfolio which are now under a Letter of Intent. The agreement will allow both SDH majority shareholder Sichuan Development International Holdings (SDIH) and AviLease to ‘develop and strengthen their new relationship and their commitment to their joint venture platform’. It also aims to enhance the relationships between China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“We are delighted to have this opportunity to work more closely with SDH Wings and our joint venture partner SDIH,” commented Edward O’Byrne, CEO of AviLease. “We consider there to be vast untapped potential in the Asian aviation industry and hope to leverage our close relationship with SDH Wings to access new markets as part of our growth strategy”.