Story ID: 
Leasing Venture Orders 12 More Helicopters
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Helicopter lessor LCI and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing are acquiring 12 more helicopters worth more than $120 million.
Word Count: 207
Helicopter lessor LCI and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL) are acquiring a dozen more helicopters worth more than $120 million under their helicopter leasing joint venture. The new aircraft include four Airbus H145s, three Leonardo AW139s and five Leonardo AW169s. They join the 19 helicopters already owned by the joint venture that are leased on missions such as emergency medical services, search and rescue, and transportation to offshore wind farms.

"The robust model of our joint venture, featuring ESG-friendly, long-term leases and full power by the hour maintenance contracts, together with LCI’s skill as a partner, make this expansion a natural progression,” said SMFL managing executive officer Shinichiro Watanabe.

Overall, LCI’s fleet comprises approximately $1 billion of assets in service, on order, and under management, and is focused on medium and super-medium helicopters made by Leonardo, Airbus, and Sikorsky. LCI has raised more than $1 billion in new capital since 2019 over the course of 25 transactions sourced from over 20 separate financial institutions.

"Helicopters are eminently financeable assets and we have attracted new and diverse capital into the market by demonstrating their virtues, which include long economic lives, full power-by-the-hour coverage, and mission-critical contracts," said LCI CEO Jaspal Jandu.