During 2017, Avolon delivered 45 new aircraft and sold 44 owned & managed aircraft; completed the $10.4 billion acquisition and integration of CIT aircraft leasing business; increased its owned, managed and committed fleet by 109% to 908 aircraft; and raised $14.9 billion of new capital.
During the fourth quarter of 2017, Avolon delivered seven aircraft and sold five. Avolon has fully placed all of its 2018 deliveries as well as all twin aisle aircraft from orderbook placed out until Q4 2019. The lessor sold the remaining three aircraft from Avolon Capital Partners, the company’s joint venture with Wells Fargo in which Avolon was a 25% JV partner, with returns the company said “realized ahead of expectations”.
The average age of Avolon’s owned fleet is 5.3 years, with an average remaining lease term of delivered fleet of 6.6 years.
Following the successful re-pricing of the US$5.0 billion TLB-2 facility in Q3, Avolon re-priced its US$500 million TLB-1 facility in Q4 and repaid US$130 million of the TLB-1 facility during the re-pricing and increased debt facilities by c. US$907 million during Q4, of which US$200 million was an upsize to a revolving warehouse facility.
“We are delighted to announce another strong quarter of trading; completing what has been a transformational year for the company. The year was headlined by the acquisition and integration of the CIT aircraft leasing business, and our order for 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft,” said Dómhnal Slattery, CEO Avolon. “We believe that our strong cashflows, credit metrics and proven management team are a testament to the strength of our business. We are highly confident about the future for Avolon, as we continue to build towards becoming the global leader in aircraft leasing.”