Sumitomo Mitsui Finance & Leasing Co., Ltd. (President: Koji Ishida; hereinafter, "SMFL") and Sumitomo Corporation (President and CEO: Susumu Kato; hereinafter, "SC") successfully closed the operating-lease contracts with Japan Airlines Corporation for two Boeing 737-800 aircraft and with Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden for one same typed aircraft through their joint venture company named SMFL Aircraft Capital Corporation B.V. (CEO; Takayoshi Yamabe; hereinafter "SMAC") and SMFL Aircraft Capital Japan Co., Ltd. (Executive Director; Takayoshi Yamabe; hereinafter, "SMAC-Japan"). The aircrafts have been delivered safely. The lease term of all three aircraft is 12 years.

 

• Background:

SMFL , Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., which is SMFL's parent company, and SC have positioned the aircraft operating leasing business as one of their strategic joint businesses and have established SMAC in the Netherlands and SMAC-Japan in Japan.

 

SC currently manages approximately 60 aircraft, including some 20 airplanes owned by itself, mainly via Sumisho Aircraft Asset Management B.V., a Netherlands-based group company specialized in the aircraft leasing. Jointly with SMFL, SC shall develop and expand aircraft leasing business through SMAC from now on.

 

In April and July 2009, SMAC-Japan has concluded aircraft lease contracts with Japan Airlines for two Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 165-seat capacity. These deals are the first aircraft lease with a Japanese airline and closed under the joint venture scheme between SMFL and SC. Two aircraft are now engaged in Japan Airlines' operation. Succeeding to these deals, SMAC has closed a lease contract with Scandinavian Airlines System for one Boeing 737-800 aircraft in July 2009. This deal is the first offshore aircraft lease contract under the joint venture scheme.

• Future Approach:

At the moment, circumstances surrounding airline industry are severe, such as oil price fluctuation and concerns for declining passenger revenue due to slowdown in world economy stemming from subprime loan crisis. SMFL and SC take this situation as a favorable opportunity to increase the aircraft leasing assets because of increasing demand for aircraft leasing from airlines which shall seek to secure various methods for financing and flexibility for procurement of aircrafts and plan to secure about fifteen aircraft, including the above mentioned transactions in fiscal year 2009.
Based on the assumption that aircraft leasing is a business area which shall grow steadily in medium to long term, SMFL and SC shall, via SMAC, expand significantly the number of aircraft they own in coming three to four years by selecting carefully the types of aircraft and forecasting cautiously the demand on aircraft leasing.  

Related Links 

 

• Financial & Logistics Business Unit
• Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.