Carlyle Aviation Partners announced that Edward “Ted” O’Byrne joined the team as a managing director and co-head of Aviation, where he will play a senior role in the firm’s aircraft leasing and financing activities. Carlyle Aviation, a recently acquired unit of global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group, operates within Carlyle’s Global Credit segment.

O’Byrne joined Carlyle Aviation after 11 years with AerCap Holdings, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, where he most recently served as chief investment officer in charge of portfolio management, aircraft trading and OEM relations. During his tenure, he participated in some of the largest transactions in the industry, including the acquisition of ILFC from AIG in 2014. Prior to joining AerCap, O’Byrne held several commercial functions at Airbus.

O’Byrne said, “I am extremely pleased to join Carlyle Aviation. The team has a great track record and is well positioned to take advantage of the vast opportunities in the aircraft leasing industry. Commercial aviation is a growing sector requiring $100s of billions of financing every year. I look forward to serving Carlyle Aviation’s investors with their investments in the industry.”

Bill Hoffman, chairman and co-founder of Carlyle Aviation Partners said, “We are very proud to have Ted O’Byrne join our senior management team, with his substantial industry knowledge and depth of experience. We anticipate Ted contributing keen insight to our investing process.”

Robert Korn, president and co-founder of Carlyle Aviation Partners added, “We welcome Ted and look forward to his contributions. We see many opportunities to broaden our relationships with our aviation industry partners, and Ted will certainly be part of that effort.”

Mark Jenkins, Carlyle managing director and head of Global Credit, said, “We are excited to work with Ted, a deeply experienced business leader and investor in the aviation finance sector. Carlyle Aviation Partners is an important strategic priority for Carlyle Global Credit and Ted’s experience and industry expertise will be helpful as we enhance our businesses and create value for our investors.”

On December 19, 2018, Carlyle announced the closing of the acquisition of Apollo Aviation Group.