AerCap leases passenger jets to commercial airlines, including Russia’s Aeroflot.
Sergei Ivanov/AP
- AerCap Holdings stock has plunged 25% since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month.
- AerCap leases passenger jets to commercial airlines, including Russia’s Aeroflot.
- Concerns are mounting that AerCap has lost 152 planes it leased to Russia, worth $2.5 billion.
Investors in AerCap Holdings are growing increasingly worried that the 152 planes it has leased to Russia are gone forever as Western sanctions against Moscow ramp up over its war on Ukraine.
The planes, which are estimated to be worth about $2.5 billion according to a Bloomberg report, have mostly been grounded and called back to Russia. And the country is not showing any signs of recognizing an international law that would allow AerCap to repossess them.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, shares of AerCap holdings have crashed about 25%. The Dublin-based company said late last month it would cease leasing activity with Russian carriers as sanctions against the country from Western countries heated up.
According to AerCap, its airplane fleet leased to Russia represents 5% of its net book value, so the company is poised to survive if it is unable to repossess all of those planes. According to analytics firm Cirium, Russian airlines have 980 passenger jets in service, of which 777 are leased.
The European Union has given plane leasing companies until March 28 to wind down its current rental contracts in Russia, giving the firms just a few weeks to completely exit the country. And with nearly all of Europe closing airspace to Russia planes, it could be physically impossible for lessors to travel to Russia and repossess the airplanes.
“The number one fear right now is that these aeroplanes are gone forever,” Dover managing director Steve Giordano told Bloomberg. Dover is a firm that specializes in repossessing aircrafts on behalf of lessors.
AerCap Holdings has lost about $4 billion in market value since the Russia invasion began. And plane leasing companies aren’t the only firms feeling the pain due to their exposure to Russia. These are 10 top companies that have since exited the country over the past month.
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