DAE acquires 23 aircraft and signs 147 lease deals in first nine months of 2021

Plane lessor also sold 23 aircraft and added three new managed customers this year

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise acquired 23 new aircraft in the first nine months of this year. Courtesy DAE Capital

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, the Middle East’s biggest plane lessor, said it acquired 23 new aircraft and signed 147 lease deals in the first nine months of this year.

The company also sold an equal number of planes and added three new managed customers during the period, it said in a statement on Monday.

Of the 23 aircraft acquired, DAE Capital, the company's aircraft leasing division, owned 10 and managed 13, while it owned 16 planes and managed 7 of the 23 aircraft sold.

DAE currently has a fleet of 425 aircraft, which are a combination of its owned, managed, committed and mandated to manage portfolio, it said.

Plane lessors are gradually expanding their operations amid a brightening outlook for travel as more countries relax border restrictions.

DAE, which is owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, said it placed an order for 12 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes with a customer in the Americas. The company has 114 customers from 54 countries.

In August, DAE said it was optimistic but vigilant after posting a lower first-half net profit amid a divergent recovery in air traffic demand across markets, the emergence of new coronavirus strains and the uneven distribution of vaccines.

Net profit for the first six months through to the end of June dropped to $49 million, from $121.7m in the same period a year earlier. First-half revenue also fell to $613.4m, from $675.9m a year earlier.

DAE raised $2.55 billion through a 4.5-year unsecured debt deal, paying interest of 2.31 per cent in the first nine months. The company also said it will pay a debt of $2.19bn, which carries an interest rate of 5 per cent.

Last month, DAE said it delivered a notice of early redemption to holders of the company’s $500m of 5.25 per cent senior notes due in 2021. The notes are scheduled to be redeemed on October 15, it said at the time, adding that the outstanding principal amount of the notes as of the date of the redemption notice was approximately $488m.

Meanwhile, global credit rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings affirmed DAE’s credit rating and have revised its outlook to “stable” from “negative”, in the nine-month period, citing the company’s strong liquidity position and capital management.