Steve Rimmer and Paul Newrick have taken full control Guggenheim Aviation Partners (GAP). Going forward, the business will operate under the name Altavair while continuing to manage and grow its current $3.4 billion commercial aircraft portfolio. With its experience in the aviation leasing market, Altavair also intends to raise additional permanent capital, which may include investments by Guggenheim clients, to support future growth thereby maintaining its position as a premier global aircraft leasing, financing, and management company.
“We are very appreciative of Guggenheim’s early and ongoing commitment which facilitated our many achievements. We are now excited to expand upon those successes as a stand-alone business,” said Steve Rimmer, Chief Executive Officer of Altavair. “We believe that our dedicated team coupled with our innovative approach uniquely positions Altavair to offer a full spectrum of financial solutions and investment opportunities to our clients and customers. We look forward to the road ahead.”
“It has been a pleasure working with Steve and Paul and their entire team for more than a decade to offer differentiated investment opportunities to our institutional clients,” commented Scott Minerd, Chairman of Investments and Global Chief Investment Officer of Guggenheim Partners. “We look forward to working with Altavair to identify high-quality commercial aviation investment opportunities for our clients in the future.”
Altavair employs 18 people at its Issaquah headquarters and nine more at offices in London and Singapore.
Steve Rimmer, the aviation executive who led GAP, will be chief executive.
Altavair’s fleet consists of 14 Boeing 777 passenger jets and two 777 freighters, two 747s, three 767s, nine Boeing 737-900ERs and 16 older 757s, as well as eight Airbus A330 passenger jets and one A330 freighter. Most of those jets are managed, not owned by the company.
Meanwhile, Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Dubai 2016 opened this morning with a comprehensive overview of the state of the market from Ascend’s top economist Peter Morris, with the main message that the current economic health of the industry is still positive but there are some concerns that need to be monitored. Brexit was specific issue raised by the audience, which will affect UK airlines and the broader European airline market significantly. With Peter decrying the fact that there were only downsides to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
Peter was followed by an intriguing discussion hosted by Crabtree Capital’s Mark Tierney, whose distinguished panel discussed the current state and potential of African aviation. Tierney stated that the African aviation industry was losing $25bn every year due to the shortcomings of its air transport infrastructure. Carlos Lopes of UNECA, Jean-Paul Ebanga and Nedbank’s James Geldenhuys were united in their opinion that the perception of African aviation is constantly negative despite the fact that the total GDP of the continent is estimated at $1.3trillion. CFMi’s Ebanga noted that despite the growth of the economy and the fact that its middle class is now on par with that of India, aircraft deliveries over the next 20 years are far too low and does not match with the predicted demographic growth trend for the same period.
Later today delegates will hear more about Africa with a panel discussion on the challenges and issues connected with leasing aircraft into the continent, which is following by a panel of the main Middle East airlines that will discuss financing options in the region.
Airlink Raffle
Airline Economics are proud to support Airlink as our charity partner for during our Gala Dinner in Dubai this evening. As many of you know, Airlink is the aviation sector's humanitarian initiative, connecting airlines with disaster response and humanitarian relief around the world.
In support of Airlink, we will hold a raffle during the event for the following prizes:
- Two economy class tickets to a Ho Chi Minh City or Bangkok, courtesy of Etihad Airways
- Two tickets to the Rugby Sevens Tournament and access to the Airbus Hospitality Suite, courtesy of Airbus
Enter online now for a chance to win; tickets are £5 each.
Prize winners will be selected at the Gala Dinner on Tuesday, 4 October
Aviation 100 Asia & Pacific 2016 Awards Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Aviation100AsiaPac2016
Philip Tozer-Pennington
philipt@aviationnews-online.com