The latest sale of crossover jets by Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) to fellow-lessor TrueNoord sees the two companies continuing to rebalance their respective portfolios.
The May 1 sale of seven Embraer E190s was the latest in a series of such transactions by NAC. TrueNoord, for example, has now made three purchases of aircraft packages from NAC in the past 16 months, totalling 29 aircraft. And in March, NAC made another sizeable divestment of 24 Embraer E1 series aircraft to Falko.
NAC has said that it intends to remain a significant player in regional aircraft leasing and currently has orders for Airbus A220 crossover jets, for example. However, the company is also expanding into larger narrowbody aircraft such as new/used 737 and A320 family members, and is reducing its portfolio of mature assets such as the Embraer E1 series.
TrueNoord, for its part, sees the three transactions with NAC complementing its fleet, “both in terms of age, as well as geographic distribution,” TrueNoord CCO, Richard Jacobs said. “They bring the TrueNoord fleet closer to matching the pattern of the world’s regional fleet.”
The current general shortage of airliners stemming from quality problems and supply chain issues at the major OEMs are a background factor in demand for smaller types, Jacobs said.
“The medium-term availability issues have trickled down to the regional arena, and certainly provide a boost to the secondary market. And so does the upswing in the European regional market.
“However, these were not the primary considerations in TrueNoord absorbing these portfolios. It is our longer-term view that these products, which are the mainstay of the current regional fleet, will serve the market well until a future generation of aircraft has matured into adequate technology readiness.”
As a result, TrueNoord is seeking further expansion of its stable of aircraft. “We are interested in any portfolios of regional aircraft that come to the market, but will be selective. The additions will need to deliver added value to TrueNoord’s current mix of aircraft types, lessees, maturities, and global regions.
“It is encouraging to see the buoyancy of the regional aviation sector, with values and lease rates continuing on an upward trend. We are already exploring further lessor-to-lessor portfolio trades.”
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