Irish-headquartered aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital said today it has booked a further $654m in proceeds from insurance settlements over the past year related to jets stranded in Russia following Western sanctions.
That brought SMBC’s total recoveries from claims following the sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine to $1.41 billion.
It was one of six lessors that ended an Irish lawsuit against their insurers last month following a series of settlements.
SMBC recorded an impairment of $1.6 billion in 2022 to cover the full financial impact of having 34 jets stuck in Russia after the sanctions forced the termination of all Russian leases.
The world’s third-largest aircraft lessor gave the update in its full year results to the end of March, which showed pretax profits rose 22% year-on-year to a company record $563m, excluding the benefit of the insurance settlements.
SMBC is owned by a consortium including Japan’s Sumitomo Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
It said today its core lease rental revenue grew by 3% to $2 billion and its asset sales hit $1.9 billion following the sale of 48 older aircraft.
Meanwhile, Boeing and Airbus are making progress in stabilising production but there is still “a way to go” to get a stable, predictable production cycle, the head of aircraft leasing giant SMBC Aviation Capital said today.
“I was actually there (at Boeing) a few weeks ago. I certainly felt that the corner was turned and I don’t say that lightly. There’s more to go but I do think they are absolutely travelling in the right direction,” Peter Barrett told Reuters.
“Airbus also has made progress,” he added.
