Dubai aircraft leasing firm DAE buys 23 aircraft for $1.1bn

UAE aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said on Wednesday that it has acquired 23 aircraft from multiple sellers in a deal valued at approximately $1.1bn.

DAE said the portfolio consists of 91 per cent narrow-body aircraft and 86 per cent next-generation technology aircraft. It has a weighted average age of 3.4 years, a weighted average lease term remaining of 8.8 years and is on lease to 13 airlines in 9 countries.

“We are delighted to add this young portfolio of aircraft assets with a long remaining lease term to our fleet, and as part of these transactions, we welcome six new airline customers to our globally diverse customer base,” said Firoz Tarapore, CEO of DAE.

“Following the induction of these aircraft, our next generation fuel-efficient fleet composition is expected to improve by nominally four percentage points on a pro-forma basis.”

Earlier in May, Tarapore said DAE will likely receive around half the number of aircraft from Boeing this year than the planemaker had originally committed to deliver. Problems at Boeing are slowing supplies for DAE, one of the world’s top 10 lessors, with a 500-strong fleet of owned, managed or ordered aircraft.

Tarapore also told Reuters that Chinese state-owned planemaker COMAC has the opportunity to break Airbus and Boeing’s duopoly of the passenger jet market over the next decade. The European planemaker is struggling to boost production amid record orders, while Boeing is being confronted by a whirlwind of legal and production challenges.

DEA’s half-year profit before tax jumped by 5.5 per cent to $148.8m, an increase of $7.7m, while its revenue rose by 1.4 per cent to $679.2m from $670.1m for the same period in 2023, driven by an increase in net lease revenue and maintenance services.

Founded in 1985, DEA serves more than 170 airline customers in over 65 countries. The group’s leasing division manages a fleet of about 425 Airbus, ATR, and Boeing aircraft with a value exceeding $18bn.

Read: Dubai aircraft lessor DAE sees China’s COMAC breaking Airbus, Boeing duopoly