BOC Aviation, the aircraft leasing arm of the Bank of China, has released figures from the company’s latest fleet review as well as revealing some financial news regarding a recent bonds issue that will raise further funding for future expansion.
In a statement issued on October 10, 2024, the organization said it has expanded its fleet of commercial aircraft to 693 units, a figure that is made up of owned and managed aircraft, as well as those that the company has on order. The average fleet age of its current aircraft is five years, while the average remaining lease term for the 430 planes it owns is 7.8 years.
As well as owning aircraft outright, the company also manages aircraft on behalf of other lessors and financial institutions. BOC says it currently manages a total of 32 aircraft under this arrangement. Additionally, it has a further 231 aircraft on order from both Airbus and Boeing.
Breaking down the lessor’s current fleet, on the narrowbody side, it owns 23 Airbus A220 family aircraft, with the type being the smallest in its portfolio. Next up, BOC owns 70 A320ceo with another 13 managed. In terms of A320neos, the company has 133 owned aircraft and a further 137 on order. In terms of Boeing products, BOC owns 57 Boeing 737NG family aircraft with a further 13 managed, and 65 737 MAX aircraft with a further 86 on order.
In the widebody arena, BOC has eight A330ceos with a further single example managed, while it also has six A330neos in its current fleet. It also owns nine A350s. On the Boeing side, it owns 27 777-300ERs and manages a further three. Of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner series, it has 27 owned aircraft, and a single example managed. The company also has five freighter aircraft with one more being a managed example.
According to the BOC statement, during the third quarter of 2024, the company executed a total of 70 new aircraft transactions which included signing commitments to purchase 19 additional aircraft, taking delivery of seven new planes, overseeing the sale of six managed units, and completing a further 35 lease commitments with carriers.
The period saw BOC’s global customer base expand to 93 airlines distributed across 48 countries. The owned aircraft utilization remained at 99% as of September 30, 2024 – a strong bellwether for just how buoyant demand in the international aircraft leasing market currently is.
Elsewhere in its operations, the organization announced it managed to raise $500 million through the issuing of seven-year bonds at a coupon rate of 4.625% per annum. The raising of these funds is likely to see BOC expand its fleet further in the coming years as demand for leased aircraft continues to surge amid soaring global international demand for air travel.
According to a report issued by KPMG at the start of 2024, BOC Aviation came fifth in the ranking of aircraft lessors by portfolio size after AerCap, SMBC Leasing, Air Lease Corporation, and Avolon.