Aircraft Finance & Leasing
THS & Co. advises lenders, borrowers, lessors, lessees, airlines, operators, owners, financiers, investors and arrangers on aircraft financing and leasing across the full transaction lifecycle-from structuring, facilities and security through delivery, operation, redelivery and enforcement.
Our team structures domestic and cross-border facilities for narrow-body and wide-body fleets, including operating leases, finance leases, sale-leaseback arrangements, and leveraged lease structures. We draft and negotiate facility agreements, lease documentation, security packages, and intercreditor arrangements aligned with commercial timelines and lender requirements.
Security and perfection work covers aircraft mortgages, assignments of rentals and insurances, guarantees, IDERAs, and Cape Town Convention filings where applicable. We coordinate with local counsel on registration, export, and enforcement steps so lessors and financiers retain practical remedies through delivery, operation, and redelivery.
The practice draws on experience across ECA-backed financings, Islamic structures, residual value mechanisms, and multi-jurisdiction enforcement. Whether you are financing a single aircraft or a portfolio mandate, we integrate tax, corporate, and dispute capability so advisory and contentious issues are handled by advisers who understand the underlying transaction.
Fleet structuring & leasing
Security & perfection
Cross-border mandates
Aircraft Transaction Experience
The firm has advised on a wide range of complex, high-value aviation transactions involving multiple jurisdictions and financing structures.
Representative experience includes:
- Cathay Pacific – Part of a US$2.2 billion acquisition of 20 Airbus A330 aircraft with Rolls-Royce Trent engines; sale and financing of multiple aircraft using Japanese, French, and German leveraged lease structures.
- Air Canada – Acquisition of several Airbus A320 aircraft using multiple structures, including German leveraged leases and the first US Pickle-Dole lease utilising US equity investor tax exemptions.
- Malaysia Airlines – First Islamic securitisation of aircraft rental payments arranged by Daiwa Bank; lease receivables securitised to issue bonds, with a bond security trustee managing coupon payments.
- Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) – Purchase of Boeing 777-340ER aircraft and subsequent cancellation of the transaction.
- EgyptAir – Acquisition of Airbus A330-300 aircraft through a combined loan and lease structure.
- Garuda Indonesia – Advisory work relating to default and asset recovery issues.
- Malaysia Airlines – Islamic securitisation of aircraft rental payments (repeat transaction structure), involving bond issuance backed by lease receivables.
- PIA International – Sale of Airbus A320 aircraft using a loan and lease structure.
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines – Purchase of Airbus A320 aircraft through loan and lease financing.
- Emirates – Sale of six Rolls-Royce Trent engines secured by a mortgage over new Boeing 777 aircraft.
- TransAsia Airways – Acquisition of Airbus A320 aircraft through a Japanese leveraged lease structure.
- Cathay Pacific – Sale of aircraft utilising German leveraged lease structures.
- ILFC – Purchase of multiple aircraft under various financing structures pursuant to a US$1.4 billion facility agreement.
- Korean Airlines – Sale of aircraft using Japanese leveraged lease structures.
- Air Canada – Use of US Pickle-Dole lease structure benefiting from tax exemption.
- Air Malta – Aircraft financing through loan and lease arrangements.
- Air Mexicana – Sale and recovery work involving enforcement of security subject to public policy principles; advised on maximising recovery by arresting aircraft outside Mexico using international enforcement mechanisms following deregulation-driven financial distress.
- Operating Lease – Structuring of an operating lease for a tunnel-boring machine.
- Flynas – Lease of two aircraft; advised on Saudi Arabian law implications, including IDERA-related considerations.
For an initial discussion on a live or pipeline mandate, contact the firm through our Contact page.