SKY Leasing (SKY) has reported a solid first half 2021 for the leasing company with a closed and committed aircraft pipeline valued at $655 million.
The transactions were originated with airlines across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, building on the strength of SKY’s global customer network. These acquisitions are in line with SKY’s investment strategy of building a fleet of new and next-generation aircraft on long-term lease with leading global airlines.
“Since January 2020 we have originated $1.5B of new and young mid-life aircraft transactions. The portfolio is one of the youngest in the industry with a weighted average age of 1.5 years and an average remaining lease term 10.9 years. Our relentless focus on providing capital and fleet solutions to our global network of airlines has enabled us to accelerate our growth plans as airlines focus on the cost efficiencies that next generation aircraft provide,” said Austin Wiley, Chief Executive officer of SKY Leasing.
SKY stated that it continues to build on its strong support in the banking and capital markets raising over $1.4bn in debt capital in the first half of 2021 to fund its committed aircraft pipeline. SKY’s global lender base now includes more than 40 bank and institutional clients.
The lessor credits its focus on new and next-generation aircraft for the successful refinancing of a 16 aircraft portfolio in the SLAM 2021-1 issuance, which achieved the lowest all-in yield ever for an aircraft ABS transaction. “The best in class pricing we receive from the banking and capital markets community is a validation of both our strategy and the quality of the SKY platform,” said Matthew Crawford, Executive Vice- President Capital Markets of SKY Leasing.