China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co, subsidiary CDB Aviation has confirmed its 2019 performance this week which showed strong business activity and growth last year. The firm executed 89 aircraft transactions during the year.
“This past year’s continued growth in our operations is evidence of our unwavering commitment to execution and progressing our highly competitive position in the world’s key markets,” summed newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hannigan.
CDB Aviation’s strong activity in 2019 was underpinned by its leadership’s ongoing focus on the long-term vision and strategies rooted in the past three years of successful evolution of business model into a full-service, global platform, and the continued robust performance of its global team.
Through a combination of advancing business infrastructure, leveraging emerging opportunities in the sale and leaseback channel, and expanding key relationships with OEMs, finance partners, and an increasing base of airline customers worldwide, the company continued to build out top-tier operations and cultivated a culture of strategic change with the goal of furthering growth momentum.
During 2019, we:
Signed lease transactions for 54 aircraft with 19 customers;
Signed agreements to sell 22 aircraft and to acquire 17 aircraft;
Acquired 40 aircraft on operating lease, representing 19.7% growth by the number of aircraft in the fleet at the start of 2019;
Signed financing transactions for US$2.49 billion;
Ended the year with 117 total employees, adding 34 new staff members in 2019; and
Added 22 new airline customers.
As of December 31, 2019, CDB Aviation’s fleet consisted of 420 owned, managed, and committed aircraft, and its global customer network comprised 68 lessees across 37 jurisdictions.
“Our imperative is to remain steadfast in efforts to enhance efficiency and streamline operations to better serve the needs of business and customers,” asserted Hannigan, elaborating that the company’s new leadership is “razor-focused on successfully effecting a clear path to the next iteration of our business model with a clear focus on our customers. With our shareholder China Development Bank’s backing, we will continue building upon our success with a clear focus on the path forward for growth which is measured through our customer relationships.”
