Dubai Aerospace Enterprise to sell 18 aircraft to investors

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said on Monday it has entered into a deal to sell 18 aircraft to institutional investors for an undisclosed sum.

The aircraft are described as in ‘mid-life’ with a weighted average age of nine years and an average remaining lease term of 4.5 years, according to the firm.

They comprise 69 per cent narrow-body aircraft, 24 per cent wide-body aircraft and 7 per cent ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft and are on loan 15 airlines in 13 countries.

“This transaction takes us one step closer to our stated goal of having $5bn of managed aircraft assets,” said DAE CEO Firoz Tarapore.

“Investors are increasingly recognising the value of DAE’s Aircraft Investor Services (AIS) platform and entrusting the management of their aircraft assets to us. So far, we have continued to outperform our investors’ expectations in all the portfolios we manage.”

DAE will continue to service the portfolio.

The company said last month its board and shareholders had authorised the repurchase of an additional $300m of its bonds through open market transactions.

Read: Dubai Aerospace authorised to buy back $300m in bonds

It also announced a deal to sell 16 aircraft worth $900m in May.

Read: Dubai Aerospace sells 16 aircraft worth $900m

Tarapore told Reuters earlier this year the company was is in talks to buy a near-record total of 400 jetliners from Airbus and Boeing worth a combined $40bn.