leasing prices for new aircraft exceeded pre-pandemic levels – Kommersant

The cost of long-term lease of new passenger aircraft has exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This is reported by Financial Times (FT) citing data from research company Ishka.

Thus, the monthly cost of leasing an Airbus A321neo increased from $340 thousand during the COVID-19 pandemic to $420 thousand now, and the cost of leasing an updated Boeing 737 Max 8 reached $360–370 thousand per month, which is also higher than the level of 2019. According to researchers, the rise in costs is due to the ongoing rapid recovery in air travel, which is outpacing the capabilities of aircraft manufacturers.

“Air traffic has grown so much that manufacturers simply cannot deliver aircraft in time,” FT quotes Ishka chief analyst Eddie Piniacek. “Everything that can now fly in the narrow-body segment is already flying.” The researchers note that there is a noticeable increase in demand for more expensive wide-body models amid the growth of long-haul transportation, where such models are often used.

Experts have recorded an increase in the cost of aircraft leasing since the beginning of this year. Back in March, the Japanese agency Nikkei citing the British research company Cirium reported that due to the rapid recovery in demand for air travel, leasing prices have come close to the level of January 2020, when flight restrictions had not yet been introduced at the global level. For example, in January of this year, the leasing cost of the Airbus A321-200neo exceeded the January 2020 figure by 0.6%, and the leasing cost of the more compact A320-200neo lagged behind the January 2020 figures by only 2.3%.

Evgeny Khvostik