Aviation Capital Group expands funding streams

Aviation Capital Group has announced the formation of its new Aircraft Financing Solutions (AFS) group.

It will focus on the development and marketing of credit-enhanced financing structures that provide airline customers with additional sources of capital for aircraft purchases.

Khanh Tran, president and chief executive officer of ACG, said: “This initiative provides ACG with a compelling complement to its core operating lease services, enabling us to offer a broader set of fleet financing solutions to airlines.

“Our AFS group will work closely with ACG’s marketing team to expand the services we offer to airline customers on a wide range of aircraft types.”

To help launch the AFS initiative, Robert Roy, Andrew Falk and Robert Lewandowski will be joining ACG as managing directors and will together help lead program development, transaction underwriting and management.

All three executives were previously with the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank), collectively serving more than 50 years as key members of its aircraft finance team.

Together, they helped create and run EXIM Bank’s aircraft finance program, which supported more than $100 billion of financing for over 1,700 commercial aircraft.

Roy said: “We are extremely excited to participate in the establishment of ACG’s Aircraft Financing Solutions group as a complementary line of business to ACG’s world-class aircraft operating lease platform. Moreover, we look forward to exploring a number of aircraft financing opportunities to meet the needs of our customers.”

Roy, Falk and Lewandowski will join ACG in late March 2018 and will be based in its Newport Beach office.

At the end of 2017, Aviation Capital Group had 439 owned, managed and committed aircraft, which are leased to approximately 95 airlines in 45 countries. ACG was founded in 1989 and is an indirect majority-owned subsidiary of Pacific Life Insurance Company.