Despite interest rates that have crept up this year and a market that has corrected from an overheated status, aircraft financing has largely remained available even if the banks have become more regimented in their lending requirements. And financing is expected to increase over time.
A study Airbus Corporate Jets released during the most recent NBAA-BACE found that 82 percent of U.S.-based business aviation financiers and private jet brokers expect access to financing to grow over the next three years alongside steady demand.
However, while 98 percent believe jet finance rates will remain attractive, nearly half did see a slight rise in cash requirements.
When asked by analysts recently if financing has been harder to come by for its customers in light of the interest rate hikes, Bart Demosky, executive v-p and CFO of Bombardier, responded that the company has seen “no negative impact. If anything, it's the opposite.”
Bombardier executives recently met with various financing companies that participate in the business aviation space, he elaborated, and “all of them are seeing growth in their books. They're being very supportive of the industry. As a group, they all said that they're deploying more capital into business aviation because it's been high performing for them.”
This has been particularly true for Bombardier’s fleet customers, he said, but acknowledged those customers have the ability to generate cash.
Specialty lenders such as Global Jet Capital (GJC) have continued to grow in this market. GJC CEO Vivek Kaushal has been encouraged that business has remained steady. “Business has been good this year,” Kaushal told AIN. “We're roughly on pace with where we were back in 2022, which is actually really good considering that it's been a somewhat smaller marketplace.”
GJC is approaching its 10th year of business, and over that time it has become one of the biggest financiers and lessors in the business jet industry, approaching $4 billion in originations.
He agreed with the contention of others that the financing availability is “still pretty good.” For GJC, he added, “We’ve maintained our appetite. We’ve maintained our stance consistent with other years.”
However, he did note that with the interest rates, traditional banks may be “aiming themselves farther up the credit spectrum than before that perhaps was the case 12 months ago. If you’re a sort of investment grade type credit, tapping the banks is still relatively straightforward.”
Difficulties may come with banks on the margin, he said, pointing to some of the regional banks that encountered financial troubles over the past year. “That’s where the marketplace has felt it a little bit. But the very large banks still very much continue to be out there.”
At GJC, however, he said, “We have not migrated up the credit spectrum like they have. As a dedicated provider of business aviation financing, we can be nimble, which is very important in this transitioning market.”
Further, GJC does not have the extent of the regulatory scrutiny and constraints that banks do, which may need to insist on certain lending requirements that “they don’t have a whole lot of flexibility on.”
Even if interest rates may have cooled demand a little bit, “I can’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing,” Kaushal said. “I think it’s inserted some rationality into the transaction market where last year, a good chunk of the transactions got done without pre-buy inspections. That’s no longer the case, so the market has reverted back to standard practice.”
The market is normalizing, Philip Winters, v-p of aircraft sales and charter management with Western Aircraft (and incoming chair of the International Aircraft Dealers Association [IADA]), also acknowledged, “except for interest rates, which is going to be an interesting evolution.”
Winters is a little more cautious about the outlook, saying, “I think we are in the early stages of the impacts to the people who buy airplanes.” Large aircraft buyers tend to be able to rely more on cash, he said.
IADA executive director Wayne Starling also agreed that the environment with traditional banks may be a little more difficult, telling AIN that “all banks took a step back regarding the underwriting guidelines, especially in the terms they offered.” But Starling added, “This does not apply when they are talking to one of their larger bank clients. The changes apply mostly around a non-bank customer.”
He too saw smaller banks staying in the market for only a short time. But Starling further noted that the interest rates “are not a significant factor in the decision to buy or not buy,” particularly with turbine aircraft. “It is more about do I finance or pay cash...Cash is still king.”
The evolving market also has created opportunities for new players in the financial realm. One such entity is Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI), which this year launched a specialty finance unit with the acquisition of Shearwater Global Capital this year. “It’s an alternative to traditional lending options,” said JSSI chief marketing and strategy officer Megha Bhatia.
The asset-based lender “is in a place specifically to address a gap in the market looking at mid-vintage aircraft.” She defined that as aircraft 15 years or older.
JSSI found that with the new entrants and record-low inventory, interest has increased in older viable business jets, Bhatia explained. “While we are seeing these trends normalizing and OEMs cautiously increasing production rates to match demand, options to the traditional lending process, especially for older aircraft, are limited—presenting an opportunity for lenders who can service this market with speed and ease throughout the financing process.”
JSSI Aviation Capital, she further said, can provide financing solutions as an alternative for a customer that may not meet traditional lenders’ financing criteria. “Our loans are structured differently, against the asset value instead of the credit profile of the owner; this forms a synergistic partnership between JSSI Aviation Capital and the client to maintain or even enhance the residual value of the aircraft.”
As for business, Bhatia echoed the thoughts of others: “The business aviation market is robust even as interest rates continue to rise. New deliveries remain strong. The volume of preowned transactions is normalizing at a level higher than 2019.”
Meanwhile, Kaushal does see a draw to financing with the higher interest rates: “As much as higher rates are a deterrent, they are also a reason for somebody to seek financing for an asset like a business aircraft so they can conserve that liquidity for more productive use. This is an environment where people can be opportunistic and invest that money in their business, invest their money in an acquisition, invest their money in creating the capability with superior returns down the road that far exceed the cost of financing.”