It has been many years since we have had such a terrific flurry of emails on a subject and given that the E190 was only mentioned in passing a few days ago, it makes the email and telephone traffic on the subject all the more astonishing. This is especially so since values on the aircraft are not falling through the floor and lease rates are holding steady. This leads me to wonder whether the mid-life aircraft market so very competitive at the moment that businesses have become sensitive to any sort of mention of an aircraft type with large numbers in the market at any one time. Are we seeing serious overcapacity in the mid-life trading/leasing market?
At this point it is well worth us all remembering that just two or three years ago lease rates on a V2500-powered A320 were falling fast with lessors unable to give the type away, with many resorting to tearing down the aircraft and engines. Fast forward to today, you cannot get hold of one for love nor money – they are leasing gold dust right now.
We shifted through so much information that was corroborating our news yesterday, but an area where we did not have independent sight of documentation was concerning GMT’s E190s. You will recall that we stated that we could not confirm the information sent to us by several independent sources, with some being first-hand accounts we were compelled to make mention of the proceedings and name names, but we have since been advised of the detail of the return conditions of the aircraft being remarketed by GMT and we can confirm that the return conditions are quite satisfactory and should certainly not be a hindrance to any sale. Indeed, I would go so far as to add that the return conditions are far superior to some that I have seen of late.
As mentioned, competition seems to be so tough at the moment in the mid/late life market that many people in the market will do anything to get an advantage on a deal: So are we entering a period where (far more than usual) one must be very careful about market rumours?
More to come on this subject on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone.