Financing and operating LCC fleets - and the increasingly influential role of lessors

15 May, 2018

Is success in the Low Cost Carrier (LCC) market purely driven by aircraft selection? Many would argue that selecting the right aircraft is just one of many important factors to making any project work, while selecting the wrong aircraft ultimately is a direct route to collapse. So can fleet selection truly make or break the LCC model?

There are a variety of options to consider: only select new aircraft, or exclusively very old aircraft. Direct order or lease? - an especially pertinent issue in the North Asian context given China has big plans for aircraft leasing, Hong Kong has also re-written its tax laws to make the practice more favourable and the Japanese banks are pouring money back into the leasing sector.

But there are also other factors. How and where do airlines source the funding to support their growth plans? Which finance models are most attractive? Is there a role for dedicated airline leasing subsidiaries - such as with Lion/AirAsia?

This will be one of the topic areas discussed at the forthcoming CAPA- Centre for Aviation LCCs in North Asia event which makes a return to Seoul, South Korea for its 2018 edition on 11-Jun-2018 and 12-Jun-2018.

Understanding aviation markets is CAPA's great strength and passion and this year's agenda includes a variety of topics sure to generate interest. Financing and operating LCC fleets - and the increasingly influential role of lessors will be the opening panel of the morning session of the Seoul forum on 12-Jun-2018.

It's hardly a secret that the airline industry is facing myriad challenges, notably in the marketing and distribution areas, as companies with personalised data, and the analytics and artificial intelligence to go with it, become greater threats to the stability of the traditional airline model.

Despite lacking the seat penetration rate of peers in other markets, with about 11% of seats within North Asia operated by LCCs compared with 56% in Southeast Asia and 40% in Western Europe, LCCs are beginning to flourish in this region. The LCC model may now be well understood here, but the operating environment is increasingly complex, competitive and interconnected. Long haul low cost, full service airlines adding LCC subsidiaries, and many other developments are high on the agenda.

This high-level aviation event, hosted at The Grand Hilton Seoul, around 15 minutes from downtown Seoul, is a forum for debate and discussion of strategic issues facing the LCC industry in North Asia.

FIND OUT MORE… visit the CAPA LCCs in North Asia 2018 homepage to find out more about this not-to-be-missed opportunity to discuss relevant issues impacting the aviation sector and learn meaningful insights from your industry peers.