CDB Aviation, a wholly-owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing, reported that 2020 marked a period of robust business activity for the company despite a difficult market for the aircraft leasing industry.

“The pandemic-battered environment has inflicted an array of unexpected and unparalleled challenges upon all stakeholders across the global air transport sector, generating significant near-term headwinds,” Patrick Hannigan, CEO of CDB Aviation, said. “In the face of these adverse conditions, our team has persisted to attain continued growth and advance key initiatives, progressing several aspects of our long-term vision.”

CDB Aviation’s activity in 2020 was reinforced by the company leadership’s focus on “working with existing and new airline customers, our shareholder and other industry stakeholders to support the sector’s recovery while strengthening the platform’s capabilities and financial position to enable further growth and ensure sufficient liquidity for the future,” Peter Goodman, chief marketing officer of CDB Aviation, said.

During 2020, CDB Aviation executed:

• 61 new leases and 16 lease extensions
• 29 new aircraft acquisitions, including nine 737 MAX 8s, seven A321neos, six A320neos, five 737-800s, one 787-9 and one A350-900
• 21 aircraft deliveries, worth $1.2 billion, from sale-and-leaseback transactions;
• 23 additional aircraft commitments under sale-and-leaseback transactions, totaling $1.2 billion and to be delivered in 2021 or 2022
• 18 aircraft sales
• $4.7 billion in financing transactions.

In addition, CDB Aviation contracted its first-ever A330-300 P2F freighter conversion.

As of Dec. 31, 2020, CDB Aviation’s fleet consisted of 399 owned, managed and committed aircraft, and its global customer network consisted of 74 lessees across 37 jurisdictions. Frontier Airlines, United Airlines and WestJet Airlines were among a number of new customers added in 2020. The company ended the year with a total of 122 employees.

“Our continued success in the marketplace is solely attributable to the hard work of our global team and our dynamic internal culture that is adept at handling change and boosting interaction at all levels across the whole platform, particularly while working remotely,” Hannigan said.

The CDB Aviation team believes the demand for leased aircraft will continue, with lessors playing a vital role in providing finance and liquidity to airlines, including through the sale-and-leaseback channel, as industry recovery gradually ensues.

“Our prerogative, for both the near- and longer-term, remains centered around working in tandem with our shareholder, board and experienced team to leverage our financially strong, highly competitive and industry-oriented position to deliver financing and fleet solutions to airlines in all markets, with a clear focus on maintaining growth momentum and building for the future,” Hannigan said.