Dubai jet leaser wins $282m settlement in Russian case

• Claims resolved against involved firms
• Ongoing litigation in English courts
• Mitigating losses of Russia-leased aircraft

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the Middle East’s largest aviation leasing company, has received a $282 million cash settlement from unnamed insurers for aircraft leased to Russian Federation carriers.

This latest payment brings DAE’s total insurance recovery to $601 million. 

With this settlement DAE and its partners have resolved all claims against the involved insurance and reinsurance companies, the company said in a statement. 

However it said that it will continue to pursue additional compensation through ongoing litigation in English courts under its own insurance policies.

“DAE will also continue its efforts to seek to mitigate its losses in respect of its aircraft that were previously leased to airline carriers in the Russian Federation,” the statement said.

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DAE manages a portfolio of approximately 500 Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft, with a combined fleet value of $20 billion.

The region’s aircraft leasing companies such as DAE are profiting from prolonged delivery delays at aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus, with order backlogs at the manufacturers unlikely to clear before the end of the decade.

“These [aircraft leasing] guys are in a fantastic position because they have a fantastic fleet of aircraft,” Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told AGBI last week. “They are the winners.”