ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2022 - 20

When asked if the global legal
system supporting aircraft
finance functioned well during
the COVID-19 crisis, the
audience responded:
* Strongly agree - 13%
* Agree - 50%
* Disagree - 38%
* Strongly disagree - 0%
53%
of the audience indicated
aviation investors' concerns
with sustainability are
significantly higher today
versus one year ago.
Gerry Laderman, executive vice
president and chief financial officer of
United Airlines; and Trent Porter, chief
financial officer of Breeze Airways. The
discussion centered mostly on what
each executive's airline is doing to
prepare for growth beyond 2019 levels.
" We have all the aircraft we need in
2022, " Anderson said. " In 2021, we
exceeded capacity growth compared
to 2019. We've hired excess people to
get ahead of things. " Bricker said Sun
Country is currently 20% above 2019
levels, and they are currently focused
on " being a better employer. We are
rolling out technology to make life
better for ramp employees. Wages are
going up, and that's a positive thing. "
Laderman also discussed workforce
issues and noted that United was the
only airline that worked out a deal with
their pilots to reduce hours instead
of furloughing. Breeze Airways just
launched in May 2021, but Porter said
he is excited about the airline's A220s.
20 * THE OF F I C I AL PUBL I CAT I ON OF ISTAT
The Freighter Panel was next,
moderated by Gary Weissel, managing
officer at Tronos Aviation Consulting,
and featuring Dave Andrew, chief
executive officer of ASL Aviation
Holdings; Tim Komberec, chief
executive officer and chairman of
Empire Airlines; and Betsy Seaton,
president and chief executive officer
of Northern Aviation Services. Weissel
opened the discussion asking the panel
about how the pandemic has affected
their companies and the industry at
large. " We saw the worst and the best
of what's come out of this pandemic,
with our passenger business having
been decimated while our freight
business performed exceptionally, "
Andrew said. " In 2019, freight was
hardly of interest to many people, and
now it's gone totally the opposite way
with huge interest on all fronts. " Seaton
agreed that the pandemic has been
great for the market, but her company's
biggest challenge right now is labor.
RIGHT: The
Aviation Working
Group Panel
featured, from
left, moderator
Jeffrey Wool,
Daniel Da
Silva, Francois
Collet and Carol
Forsyte.
LEFT: The Aircraft
Finance Panel
featured, from
left, moderator
Shani Fisher,
John Beekman,
Pam Hendry,
Armin Rothauser,
Radha Tilton and
Jennifer Villa.
The next panel, " Aviation Working
Group Actions During COVID -
From Preserving Creditor Rights to
Launching the Carbon Calculator, " was
moderated by Jeffrey Wool, secretary
general of the Aviation Working Group
(AWG). It featured panelists Daniel
Da Silva, vice president of strategic
regulatory policy at Boeing Capital
Corporation; Francois Collet, head of
trading at Airbus S.A.S.; and Carol
Forsyte, executive vice president,
general counsel, corporate secretary
and chief compliance officer at Air
Lease Corporation. Wool laid out
AWG's goal, which is to ensure " the
unique circumstances the industry
has faced will not adversely affect
the industry over the next 20 years. "
To that end, Wool explained, AWG
has focused on the following topics:
the Cape Town Convention; airline
restructuring principles; structured
financings with shared security
principles; ESG; the Global Aircraft
ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ISTAT Jetrader - Spring 2022
