Wilmington Trust was cleared as a trustee in the U.S. and Ireland for the Aviation Working Group‘s newly launched electronic global aircraft trading system (GATS) platform.

The GATS online platform was designed to modernize aircraft equipment trading and financing, eliminating the need for hard copy trust documents and facilitating lease transfer. It allows trustees to help participants in the aviation industry electronically migrate existing aircraft owning trusts to digitally engage in transactions, such as buying and selling aircraft and engines on lease, with other participants. This creates greater efficiency and expediency by reducing the burden on lessees, lessors and financiers.

“We are proud to be a cleared trustee for the new GATS platform, which will be a great help to move the industry away from paper documents and fully into the digital age,” Chris Sponenberg, vice president of Wilmington Trust, said. “One of the key benefits of this platform is that it will help all participants better understand trust structures and to do so at their own convenience.”

Wilmington Trust has 45 years of aircraft financing experience in the U.S. and 12 years of experience in Ireland.

“Implementing GATS will help us continue our commitment to the Irish aircraft leasing and financing space, guiding our clients to greater success with our unmatched expertise,” Cliona O’Faolain, head of Ireland for Wilmington Trust, said.

GATS is a fully electronic system, using e-signatures, e-delivery of documents and use of a secure e-ledger to record transactions. GATS-cleared trustees are able to access a variety of capabilities, including creating trusts electronically, assigning security interests with respect to aircraft lease trusts and assigning the benefit of the trusts electronically.

Wilmington Trust provides corporate and institutional services, including institutional trust, asset management, retirement plan, agency and administrative services for clients who use capital markets financing structures.