Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world, said it ended the first half of 2020 with total available liquidity of $2.8 billion.

The liquidity comprised of approximately $600 million of unrestricted cash and $2.2 billion of long-term committed available lines of credit, DAE added in its 1H2020 Business Update.

DAE said it repurchased $187 million of our own bonds in the first half of 2020 (1H2020). Over the next 12 months, DAE has only one bond maturity of $430 million in August 2020, it added.

DAE’s owned, managed and mandated-to-manage fleet stayed stable at 400+ aircraft. During (1H2020), DAE sold or novated 17 aircraft, acquired 5 aircraft, transitioned or extended leases on 23 aircraft, and negotiated 41 lease extensions subject to documentation. Since the onset of the pandemic, DAE transitioned 11 aircraft with 18 ferry flights to and from 9 countries. Portfolio lease utilization remained high and is above 99%. The managed aircraft portfolio grew to 73 aircraft.

 DAE continues to receive rent deferral requests. To date, DAE has granted 29 rent deferral requests totalling aggregate rent of approximately 12% of annual reported revenue. We are currently evaluating an additional 28 rent deferral requests totalling aggregate rent of approximately 6% of annual reported revenue. DAE expects to provide additional assistance to our clients and we also expect arrears to climb as our clients continue to refine their operating models, it said in the update.

Firoz Tarapore, DAE’s Chief Executive Officer said: “The first half of 2020 has proven to be the most challenging half year ever for the global aviation industry. As we continue to navigate through uncertain times, DAE has focused on executing well on the fundamentals. During the last 6 months, we have transitioned aircraft to new airline customers, we have actively taken back aircraft from airlines that did not need capacity and placed them with other existing clients, and we have grown our managed asset portfolio.”

“We have used our industry-leading liquidity position to assist clients with rent deferrals, support our bond repurchase program and still maintain a strong liquidity profile. We do not have any speculative orders with an OEM and we do not expect that to change in the near-term.

“Our team of professionals continues to leverage our technology investments and deliver our platform capabilities to our clients in a seamless way every day,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service