Regional aircraft lessor Azorra is growing its fleet by adding 37 aircraft
US aircraft lessor Azorra Aviation Holdings announced on June 5 that it had acquired a portfolio of 37 regional aircraft. The aircraft, previously owned by regional leasing market leader Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), are financed by a lender group led by BNP Paribas.
The portfolio comprises 29 Embraer E-Jets, seven ATR turboprops and one De Havilland Q400 turboprop, and all are currently on lease. The Embraer E-Jet operators are Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico Connect, AirFrance HOP, Airlink, Azul, BA CityFlyer, German Airways, Kenya Airways, LOT Polish Airlines and Portugalia Airlines. The turboprop operators are Silver Airways, Air Antilles and LAM Mozambique Airlines.
Azorra CEO John Evans said the lessor was thrilled to add these aircraft to its growing portfolio while expanding and diversifying its customer base.
“These aircraft are ideally suited for today’s market dynamics and are leased to well-known airlines around the world. Azorra’s management team has a long and successful history with BNP Paribas and originated a majority of these leases prior to the sale of Jetscape to NAC.”
BNP Paribas Head of Transportation Capital Markets Global Markets, Bertrand Dehouck, said,
“We recognize in Azorra a strong leasing platform in the regional aircraft market and a trusted partner who stood by us while we navigated with our lender partners a complex environment and process. This 37 aircraft portfolio is in good hands, and we are pleased it contributes to scale up Azorra’s business.”
Azorra, which has offices in the US and Ireland, owns and manages 60 aircraft on lease to 18 airlines in 15 countries. In January, it placed an order with Embraer for 20 E-Jets, made of any combination of E190-E2 and E195-E2 aircraft. Azorra also has purchase rights over another 30 E-Jets. The order is valued at $3.9 billion at list prices, and deliveries will begin in 2023. Previous to that order, in 2021, Azorra entered into a sale-leaseback transaction with Porter Airlines for five new Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in the summer of this year.
In January, Azorra placed an order with Airbus for 22 A220 family aircraft, including 20 A220-300s and two ACJ TwoTwenty aircraft. Evans said that Azorra was looking forward to offering his customers the superior economics and environmental efficiency of the A220.
“We are also thrilled with the opportunity to expand Azorra’s executive jet leasing business with the new ACJ TwoTwenty,” he added. The ACJ TwoTwenty combines intercontinental range to fly over 12 hours with an unmatched 73m² of personal space.
The latest acquisition adds more depth to both customers and aircraft in Azorra’s portfolio. With a fleet comprised of A220s, Embraer E-Jets and ATR turboprops, it has all the aircraft types that regional airlines operate. Its book of new aircraft orders has it well-positioned to capture future growth opportunities, and this week’s acquisition shows it is open to exploring growth in the pre-owned market.
With NAC emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, it will be interesting to watch the regional aircraft leasing market dynamics unfold in the coming months. With three specialist lessors in the regional market, Azorra, NAC, and TrueNoord, airlines can look forward to a competitive landscape as they add aircraft to their fleets. simpleflying.com