Julia has recently joined our Transportation team here at Reed Smith, having previously been an attorney and policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation and developing strategy and policy with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (‘US Regulator’) – including in relation to emerging transportation and advanced air mobility (‘AAM’). The regulatory framework being built … Continue Reading
Chris leads the Emerging Technology Unit at Global Aerospace, which provides insurance for aviation and aerospace assets with a particular focus on innovation and keeping pace with new technology. Insurance is a key piece of the puzzle in asset finance, and will be especially important for an entirely new class of assets and supporting infrastructure … Continue Reading
mba Aviation provides a range of specialist aviation support services, from portfolio management software solutions to technical support to investor due diligence to airport revenue enhancement and beyond. The team is now looking to the future of aviation, and the opportunities and challenges that advanced air mobility (‘AAM’) will generate. mba recently organised the Alternative … Continue Reading
As Executive Editor of eVTOL Insights, Jason has a unique perspective on the state of the advanced air mobility space, and helps to connect industry players by gathering and sharing news and views from across this dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape. For the eVTOL Insights podcast, Jason interviews people working in a range of … Continue Reading
With a background in law, politics, and transport services, Clem Newton-Brown is well placed to facilitate the development of vertiports in Australia and to help connect the various moving pieces of the local advanced air mobility (‘AAM’) puzzle. Through Skyportz, his team is working to assemble the expertise and investment needed to make this happen, … Continue Reading
Advanced air mobility, or ‘AAM’, is a concept that seems to grow and evolve on a weekly basis, as hundreds of companies and thousands of people worldwide invest their expertise, their motivation and their money into the project of making the concept a reality.… Continue Reading
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (‘CAA’) announced last week that it will use the certification standards informing the ‘Special Condition for small-category VTOL aircraft’ (the ‘Special Condition’ or ‘SC-VTOL’), developed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (‘EASA)’, as the basis for the certification of new models of electric vertical take-off and landing (‘eVTOL’) aircraft in … Continue Reading
“Fly along with me,” sings Dave Grohl, “I can’t quite make it alone.” We can imagine eVTOL developers singing along to this as they work towards autonomous flight, as so many of the vehicle models will have to commence operations – however briefly – with a pilot onboard. But the ultimate viability of the eVTOL … Continue Reading
Hop to it: Vertiports as an asset class The sums invested in the development of electric vertical take-off and landing (‘eVTOL’) aircraft have been well publicised. It seems that not a week goes by without a new partnership announcement, a new SPAC combination, or another large investment being reported in the press – such as … Continue Reading
What is the EU Taxonomy? Essentially, this is an attempt to identify certain economic activities that qualify as ‘environmentally sustainable’ in order encourage investment in those activities.… Continue Reading
In an article a few weeks ago on ‘How tech went big on green energy’, the Financial Times referred to a report released in February by Lancaster University and Small World Consulting, which found that the information and communication technology sector (i.e. IT) ‘is estimated to form ca. 1.8-2.8% of global GHG emissions in 2020’[1]. … Continue Reading
The aviation financing industry has undergone a monumental shift in the past decade. As traditional bank lenders have come under increasing regulatory pressure, by virtue of their systemic importance in a decade of low interest rates and a search for yield, private capital (private equity, hedge funds, distressed debt funds, etc.) has been attracted to … Continue Reading
Original decision: Wells Fargo Trust Company, National Association (trustee) v VB Leaseco Pty Ltd (administrators appointed) [2020] FCA 1269 Appeal: VB Leaseco Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) v Wells Fargo Trust Company, National Association (trustee) [2020] FCAFC 168 The Federal Court of Australia has provided important guidance on the meaning of the phrase “give possession of … Continue Reading
Developments in environmental regulation for the aviation industry have gathered momentum over the last year, notwithstanding the challenges arising from the pandemic and the related groundings. Last month saw the publication of plans for the UK Emissions Trading System, which is proposed to take the place of the European Union Emissions Trading System when the … Continue Reading
The landscape of environmental regulation is changing for aviation operators, due to a powerful combination of global pressures to reduce emissions for one of the transportation sectors with the largest emissions outputs. Plans have recently been published for the UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS), which is proposed to take the place of the EU … Continue Reading
Aviation was exceptionally – and often uncomfortably – visible to the public eye over the course of 2019. The powerful combination of the grounding of the 737 MAX fleet as a result of tragedies and the advancing ‘flygskam’ (‘flight shame’) movement had influenced the global conversation to a significant extent by the middle of the … Continue Reading
I went to the Bath Children’s Literature Festival a couple of weekends ago, and at one of the events a very well-known illustrator mentioned that the main focus of the climate strike movement was aviation, before going on to suggest that in her opinion another industry was more particularly culpable. A hall full of primary … Continue Reading
Speed read A party should not assume that the failure of its counterpart to provide or satisfy conditions precedent gives rise to an automatic right to terminate or not perform a contingent obligation, where it could have obtained or satisfied those conditions precedent itself. Summary The recent Odyssey Aviation Ltd v GFG 737 Limited[1] in … Continue Reading
Well, sort of. There are parallels to be drawn – I know, but indulge me for a moment. With Avengers: Endgame released this week, it’s the end of an era. Much like the Avengers, we in aviation have lost a few of our heroes recently, and there are likely to be more losses to come. … Continue Reading
We are observing a distinct uptick in press coverage of aviation in the context of climate change discussions of various kinds at the moment. The headline item is, of course, the conversation about the proposed place of aviation within the Green New Deal plans in the United States, and what that might look like in … Continue Reading
The answer to this question is just one of the many fascinating things the Reed Smith aviation finance team discussed around St Stephen’s Green this January, as members of our London, Paris and Miami teams attended aviation’s largest annual industry gathering in Dublin. The presiding concern in discussions this year was where the industry is … Continue Reading
Our aviation finance team has made it to the end of its first complete year since its relaunch in summer 2017 – and it has been a big one! We have worked on transactions involving over 100 aircraft and 19 different jurisdictions, we have met with clients and friends in Dublin, New York, Hong Kong … Continue Reading
A 2017 survey showed that just 3% of airline chief executives are female, against the FTSE 100’s 7% at the same time. As of the middle of 2018, only 12 of the 286 IATA member airlines were led by women – a mere 4%. And with the future of Flybe under question at the time … Continue Reading
The Hong Kong conferences are over for another year, and our Aviation Finance team had another very productive week at the various sessions. It was great to see so many familiar faces and connect with new people, and doing so in what is fast becoming one of the world’s new aviation finance powerhouse jurisdictions gave … Continue Reading
