This month's webinar was a panel discussion with our usual hosts John Grant, OAG's Chief Analyst and Deirdre Fulton, partner at Midas Aviation, being joined by Eddy Pieniazek, the Head of Analytics and Advisory at Ishka, Jon Howey, Head of Aviation Risk at CALC and Mark Dunnachie, Senior Vice President of ACIA Aero Leasing.

We started with a look at the current state of the leasing market, and Mark explained that 50% of airline capacity is now leased, with that figure set to grow.

Eddy says that with some aircraft grounded,  manufacturers are struggling to build planes as quickly as airlines need them, which is building pent-up demand. The pool of aircraft available is not quite as big as some may imagine and that in turn pushes prices up.

Of course, with aircraft to lease not so readily available, prices go up and in the current market, lessors are in a position to be particularly selective about where they put their assets, as Mark explains. Jon reconfirms this and says that lessors can secure not only better rates, but better security packages etc. at the moment. They also both confirm that airlines are overall keener to lease aircraft for a longer period of time.

Eddy explains that few aircraft are coming back onto the leasing market and airlines are instead extending their leases. There are more older aircraft flying which, as John and Jon point out, has a knock-on effect in terms of sustainability targets.

When do the panel think supply chain issues will be resolved?

Jon thinks that this will be toward the end of the 2020s, while Eddy's slightly more optimistic view is that it may be around 2027-2028. Mark agrees with Eddy, assuming that some of the promises on delivery of parts and aircraft are followed through upon. John's take is that with all the challenges the industry faces, it will be at least another four years.

These are just a few highlights from February's aviation industry webinar, you can catch up with all the insight shared by watching the recording below, and download the slides to get a better view of the data referenced.

Recommended: