Jetrader - Summer 2014 - 14

ISTAT Asia Focuses

on Challenges,
Opportunities of
the Region

Speakers at the fourth annual event indicate a strong demand
for aircraft and a positive market sentiment in Asian region

As the first ISTAT Asia to take place in Hong
Kong, the 2014 conference was a memorable event for the more than 360 attendees
who were treated to presentations geared
specifically to the challenges and opportunities of the Asian market. The event took
place from 4-6 May at The Ritz-Carlton,
Hong Kong. As in past years, a large portion of the crowd was first-time attendees
(almost 50 percent), and 90 percent of the
group said they would attend another ISTAT
Asia conference, based on an on-site survey. Airline attendance was also very strong
with several airlines in attendance.
According to ISTAT Asia chairmen, David
Swan, chief operating officer, SMBC Aviation
Capital, and Steven Townend, deputy managing director and chief commercial officer
(Europe, Americas, Africa), BOC Aviation, the
committee's goal was to have a more Asiafocused agenda and speakers to differentiate
the topics from those at other ISTAT events,
such as the Japanese tax lease financing,
the C919 Program by COMAC, financial market
liquidity and the continued growth of Asian
players. There were many new faces on stage,
and each panel represented speakers from
countries throughout the Asia Pacific region,
including India, Japan, China and Australia.
Adrian Mowat, M.D. and chief emerging market and Asian equity strategist,

JP Morgan, presented the keynote speech,
followed by a session introducing the conference location: "Hong Kong, A Leading
Global Financial Centre" by Simon Galpin,
director general, HK Invest.
"Market sentiment from the stage and
among the crowd was very positive," Swan
said. "Demand for aircraft has definitely
stepped up in the past year by both airlines
and an increasing number of new entrant
investors. There's a lot of funding liquidity, trading and financing of aircraft at the
moment. Mid-life aircraft are also now more

popular with investors." Consolidation in the
leasing sector was another major topic of
discussion at this conference. According to
an on-site survey, 39 percent of the crowd
answered that the most attractive investment today is mid-aged narrowbodies, while
24 percent chose new narrowbodies.
Both the OEM panel and the appraisal
panel featured edgy and active discussion,
thanks to the excellent moderation and speakers supported by very active audience Q&A.
Look for more photos from the event at
www.istat.org.

ISTAT Asia Chairmen: Peter Huijbers, regional head of commercial - Asia Pacific, Hong Kong Aviation
Capital; David Swan, chief operating officer, SMBC Aviation Capital; and Steven Townend, chief
commercial officer (Americas, Europe and Asia) and deputy managing director, BOC Aviation Pte. Ltd.

14 The ofﬁcial publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

http://www.istat.org

Jetrader - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - Summer 2014