DAE Capital acquires 13 aircraft in Q1

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) announced on Monday that its aircraft leasing division, DAE Capital, acquired 13 aircraft and signed 48 lease agreements and extensions in the first quarter.

With the new acquisition, which included nine fully owned and four managed, the fleet size of the lessor now stands at 425 aircraft including Airbus, ATR and Boeing jets. This includes owned, managed, committed and mandated to manage aircraft, the company said. Last year, its fleet value exceeded $16 billion.

The company, which is owned by sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai, also reported new senior unsecured debt issuance of $1.55 billion. Its total bond repurchases and share repurchases in 2020 amounted to $192 million and $350 million, respectively.

In the first quarter, DAE sold seven aircraft, including the four it owned and three it managed.

In 2020, from January to December, the leasing company recorded a total of 125 lease agreements and extensions, up from just 35 deals in 2019 while serving more than 170 airline customers in over 65 countries. Last year, the lessor acquired 38 jets and sold 28 others as its owned fleet utilisation hit 98.2 percent.

For 2020, DAE reported revenue of $1.3 billion as against $1.439.5 billion in the previous year, a decline of 9.65 per cent per cent. Profit before tax reached $250.2 million, down from $413.6 million in 2019, while pre-tax profit margin dropped to 19.2 from 29.1 per cent in 2019.

DAE, which always maintains one of the most diversified aircraft portfolios of any major lessor, with approximately three aircraft on lease to a customer on average, acquired in 2020 the authorisation to perform work on Boeing 777 and welcomed its first Boeing 777 customer.