On January 13, 2021, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a new final rule amending its rules regarding oversales and compensation due to passengers who are denied boarding involuntarily — a practice known as “bumping”. The final rule was issued in accordance with the Transparency Improvements and Compensation to Keep Every Ticketholder Safe Act of 2018 (“TICKETS Act”)[1] which required the DOT complete a rulemaking to clarify that:

  1. there is no maximum level of compensation an air carrier or foreign air carrier may pay to a passenger who is involuntarily denied boarding as the result of an oversold flight, and
  2. the denied boarding compensation levels set forth in DOT regulations are the minimum levels of compensation an air carrier or foreign air carrier must pay to a passenger who is involuntarily denied boarding as the result of an oversold flight.

The final rule prohibits airlines from involuntarily denying boarding to a revenue passenger after the revenue passenger has checked-in for the flight and the passenger’s boarding pass has been collected or scanned and the passenger has been “accepted by the gate agent”, subject to safety and security exceptions that may require removal of the passenger. In addition, the final rule states that the passenger can be removed if the passenger is engaging in behavior that is “obscene, disruptive, or otherwise unlawful.” The final rule also makes clear that it does not limit the authority of the pilot of the aircraft provided for in 14 CFR 121.533. Continue Reading U.S. DOT issues new final rule on bumping

2020 was a challenging year for the aviation industry as a whole due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but for Boeing it has been an even more challenging time as it has also had to deal with the global grounding of its flagship product, the 737 MAX, since March 2019.

The 737 MAX was launched with the intention of becoming Boeing’s market-leading narrow-body aircraft, trying to break through the stiff competition in the narrow-body market from its main competitor, Airbus. However, that aspiration has so far failed to materialise due to the global grounding of the aircraft in March 2019 following two catastrophic incidents. At its peak, with over 750 MAXs grounded and unable to generate revenue, Boeing faced a significant challenge to return the MAX to the skies and restore the confidence of regulators and safety authorities, its customers and the flying public around the world. Continue Reading The return of the MAX…once again

On December 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) announced its final rule revising its Air Carrier Access Act (“ACAA”) regulation on the transportation of service animals by air.[1] The final rule constitutes significant changes to the ACAA regulations regarding the transportation of service animals. Significantly, the final rule restricts the types of service animals allowed on U.S. flights to dogs and frees airlines from having to accommodate a variety of emotional support animals. However, the rule does not bar emotional support animals from traveling in passenger cabins.

Prior to the issuance of the final rule, the DOT published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Traveling by Air with Service Animals” on May 23, 2018. On February 5, 2020, the DOT issued a Notice of a Proposed Rulemaking providing notice of a proposed rule amending its ACAA regulation on the transportation of service animals by air.[2] The DOT then received more than 15,000 comments on the proposed rule before announcing the final rule on December 2, 2020. Continue Reading DOT issues new rule addressing emotional support animals on flights

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 the relative stability of cash flows and value retention of aviation assets. It is no secret that private equity and other alternative funds have long been accumulating capital, waiting for the opportune moment.

The COVID-19 Pandemic (the “Pandemic”) has wreaked havoc on the aviation and travel sectors. As difficult as this has been to be involved in, distress is attractive to private equity. As airlines restructure and revisit their global fleet compositions, the market reprices distressed assets to reflect evolving operating conditions. In this relatively illiquid market, therefore, there are unprecedented opportunities for longer term investors with experience in distressed assets. Continue Reading 2020 hindsight: Finding opportunity in distress

The French government, through its investment bank Bpifrance, has recently invested in the newly created Ace Aéro Partenaires fund, which aims to support French SMEs in the aviation industry that have been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent drop in aircraft deliveries. 630 million Euros have been raised so far, with the French State (through Bpifrance) contributing 150 million Euros, Bpifrance (from its own funds) 50 million Euros, the “big four” French manufacturers (Airbus, Safran, Dassault and Thales) 200 million Euros, and the fund manager, Tikehau, the remaining 230 million Euros.

The investment is part of the French government’s 15 billion Euro plan to revive and transform the sector in three steps:

  1. providing emergency relief to the industry and its workforce, through export credits, government orders and emergency funding;
  2. investing in SMEs and the technological transformation of French aviation; and
  3. investing in R&D to design and build tomorrow’s aircraft.

Continue Reading Investing in the future: France’s bet on the aviation industry

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 the aircraft object to the creditor” as used in Article XI of the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (the Aircraft Protocol) in the context of an insolvency. It is likely that other common law (and possibly civil law) Cape Town jurisdictions would reach a similar conclusion. Continue Reading Case Note: What does ‘give possession’ mean under the Cape Town Convention?

The newly updated European Union chapter of the Getting The Deal Through Air Transport guide provides a useful and succinct overview of the European Union regulatory framework applicable to the aviation sector.

It offers highly practical insights into the various European measures that regulate the industry relating to:

  • Aviation operations and market access (safety regulations, licensing, public service obligations, regulation of airfares)
  • Ownership and control (financial fitness, nationality)
  • Aircraft and airports (maintenance, economic regulation, access, slot allocation, ground handling, air traffic control)
  • Liability and accidents
  • Competition law and state aid
  • Consumer protection

The chapter also provides a summary of the recent measures adopted by the European Union to deal with the devastating effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the industry.

To download the chapter please see our client alert here.

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 UK leaves the EU at the end of 2020. The baseline emissions reference period for the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation has also very recently been adjusted to reflect the dramatic drop in 2020 aviation emissions resulting from responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of a heated debate over long-term environmental goals and the aviation industry’s survival. You can read more about this in our earlier blog on the topic here.

Aviation is reportedly responsible for 2 per cent of global carbon emissions, and in the last 12 months we have all had to come to terms with Extinction Rebellion protests and ‘flyksgam’ (discussed in this piece by Ashleigh Standen last autumn). The industry is very aware of the need to reduce its carbon footprint – both for green reasons and to help mitigate its exposure to oil price fluctuations. However, the drivers are frequently external factors. We had become familiar with the push by financial institutions, which are subject to increased regulatory requirements and public scrutiny, as part of a drive for increased sustainability. However, as attention turns to what emergence from the pandemic might look like and our prospects of entrenching green imperatives in our recovery infrastructure, one of the major points of discussion in aviation is the ‘green strings’ attached to government bailouts of airlines. Continue Reading Airline bailouts: a golden opportunity to take balance sheets from red, to black, to green

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 ETS when the UK leaves the European Union at the end of 2020.

Plans to establish a baseline emissions reference for the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) have also been adjusted to reflect the dramatic drop in 2020 aviation emissions resulting from responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of a heated debate over long-term environmental goals and the aviation industry’s survival.

The UK ETS Continue Reading All about that baseline: Developments in the UK ETS and the CORSIA emissions baseline

On 24 May 2020, the German government announced that it had agreed an extensive €9 billion rescue package for Lufthansa, including a significant recapitalisation leading to a government shareholding of 20 per cent. The European Commission indicated that any approval of the proposed bail out would be subject to slot divestitures at Lufthansa’s Frankfurt and Munich hubs. While Lufthansa’s supervisory board had initially indicated it would not approve a rescue package subject to these conditions, it reversed its position, and on 30 May 2020 decided to accept giving up eight aircraft with 24 landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich in return for the bail out. This case illustrates some important lessons.

The Lufthansa case shows that while the Commission has accepted that government recapitalisations may be required to provide urgently needed liquidity, it is determined to ensure that such aid does not unduly distort competition in the market. Its firm position further reflects the fact that any Commission approval decisions are likely to be subject to appeal. Ryanair, in particular, has adopted an aggressive stance, and has indicated its intention to challenge a significant number of aid packages.

In addition to any conditions the Commission may impose, national governments may attach further strings. For example, Air France has had to accept certain environmental obligations in return for the French government’s financial support.

It is clear that a major restructuring of the aviation industry will take place when the worst effects of the pandemic have subsided. The conditions attached to the rescue packages may, however, impose some important limitations that the airline recipients will need to take into account when devising their post-COVID-19 strategy to deal with these changes.

Read the full article here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many airlines to temporarily ground aircraft.  Due to its dry desert conditions, Arizona is a popular state for airlines and commercial aircraft lessors to park aircraft while not in active use.  Airlines and commercial aircraft lessors should be aware, however, that Arizona’s annual aircraft license tax may apply to an aircraft owned by a nonresident of Arizona if the aircraft is based  in the state for more than 90 days in a calendar year.[1]  The annual license tax is administered and enforced by the Arizona Department of Transportation (“ADOT”).

Continue Reading License Tax May Apply to Aircraft Stored in the State of Arizona

The impact of COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) on aviation is becoming more pronounced by the day, with the International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) yesterday asking that airport slot allocation rules be suspended to prevent airlines from losing their take-off and landing slots on the basis of failure to meet the required 80% usage rates, as flights continue to be cancelled globally[1]. About 54 countries, including the US, have now introduced travel restrictions to China and the wider Asia/Pacific (“APAC”) region.

Continue Reading Reed Smith update on the impact of Coronavirus on the aviation industry

Background

Leasing has been a staple of the aviation industry for more than 40 years, and has become increasingly attractive to the shipping industry over the last five years, particularly given the scarcity of traditional bank finance.

Until 2017, Chinese money was the dominant force – particularly in aviation finance. However, the Chinese government has since put pressure on domestic corporations to sell assets and deleverage. With Chinese money no longer so readily available, a product that was better known in aviation (and container box leasing) has become increasingly common in shipping over the last few years: the Japanese Operating Lease (more commonly known as the “JOL”).

The JOL has been a feature of aviation financing for nearly 20 years. Common in the wider maritime sector, there has also been a noticeable increase in the desirability of this product in the vessel-financing market over the last five years.

Traditionally, JOLs were more popular in aircraft finance because investors were comfortable with the residual value risk. Shipping, by contrast, is a much more diverse asset class, with value being a direct consequence of the country in which a ship is built and the specification of each particular vessel. Continue Reading JOL-ted into action

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 year, which was then compounded by various airline insolvencies and an announcement from a British political party as part of an election campaign that it would investigate a complete ban on private jets from 2025.

As an asset class and as an industry, aviation has been attractive to investors for some time now, as its relative youth as a market compared to its peers and the reliability of its returns have drawn funds from all over the world. Recently, however, it has seemed that some of the features of the market we have come to take for granted have been evolving. For example, the words ‘long haul’ now bring to mind an image of the two-engined 787 Dreamliner, rather than its four-engined predecessors. The famed “double digit” returns for investors may be easing (with IATA reporting a 5.7 per cent ROI for the end of 2019)[1], investments once considered “platinum” are now being sent for part-out, reports of ‘trade wars’ are developing on a weekly basis and we appear to be coming to the end of the era of low interest rates and oil prices.

However, we are also seeing increasing attention from new investors and ever-growing passenger demand figures which, together with the evolutions noted above, indicate a maturing market with a new set of trends being observed by aviation financiers. Continue Reading The eye of the beholder: After a dramatic year in aviation, how is the industry perceived by investors?

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 school children (and their parents) nodded soberly – this was not news to them. They know what ‘flygskam’ means.

It is a commonplace in the press at the moment that the aviation industry is a major contributor to humanity’s carbon emissions, especially with the renewed efforts of Extinction Rebellion also hitting headlines. Private aviation is an especially soft target, with high-profile (and even royal) individuals and occasions attracting criticism for their use of corporate and personal aircraft.

The thing is, I have been trying to write this blog post for months now, hoping to be able to do some research and identify some positives to try to respond to this, but there is a dizzying amount of press coverage of the issue every week, and a bewildering number of industry reports from the last twelve months alone, and it is exceptionally difficult to find a unifying message or distil an accurate sense of the progress we are making – even if, like me, you work in the sector and are actively looking for some digestible takeaways. Continue Reading Means, motivation and opportunity: How can we better respond to flygskam?

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 the English High Court saw both the buyer and seller under an aircraft purchase agreement (the ‘APA’) claiming the deposit, as both parties attempted to terminate the APA on the basis of various alleged breaches of warranty, failure to satisfy conditions precedent and non-payment of purchase price and fees.

The case is significant for aviation sale and leasing practitioners, especially in relation the satisfaction of conditions precedent which is noteworthy for transactional lawyers more generally. It was held that a term should be implied in the APA where a party was to ‘have received’ certain documents, evidence or confirmations, or that the sale would take place ‘subject to the fulfilment’ of conditions precedent, the recipient should take ‘reasonable steps’ to obtain them themselves. This was held to be the case even where there is no express obligation to this effect. Failure to take these steps will mean that the intended recipient would not be able to rely on the other party’s failure to satisfy the condition precedent as a ground for termination. Continue Reading Case Note: Odyssey Aviation Ltd v GFG 737 Limited

The Extinction Rebellion protests in London have finally died down, after several weeks of aggravation and disruption to City commuters making their way to work, protestors gluing themselves to overground trains and grinding traffic on Waterloo Bridge and at Oxford Circus to a halt. Their execution was annoying, but they had a point. Serious remedial action needs to be taken within the next 12 years, or humans will have taken our fragile environmental state one step too far away from recovery. The automotive, rail and shipping industries have already put electrification and environmentally conscious fuel-saving on the menu. Why then has the aviation industry, known to be a development trailblazer, not yet been able to make hybridisation more readily available in the commercial aviation space?

It may well be a question of scale. Batteries used for electric cars are fairly small and therefore easier to manufacture. Overall, battery packs are heavier than their combustion engine counterparts. Aircraft-grade batteries are weighing in between 2 and 3 metric tons (that’s Range Rover heavy). This means that aircraft manufacturers will need smarter materials to reduce some weight to compensate for those heavy batteries and their cooling systems.

Continue Reading Fight or flight? The eternal battle for efficiency

In recent weeks, the French airport industry has seen two major and unexpected setbacks, with the cancellation of the privatisation of Toulouse airport and the postponement of the sale of the Paris airports company.

For months, the infrastructure world has been scrutinising the French market, with all major players in the airport sector eagerly lining up for the sale of 49.99% of the shares in the Toulouse airport company, announced by its current Chinese owners, and the sale of 51% of the shares in the Paris airport company (Aéroports de Paris, ADP) announced by the French government. The size of ADP, which not only runs three of the four Paris airports (CDG, Orly and Le Bourget), but also runs eight other major airports around the world, makes this an extremely lucrative prospect for private sector investors.

However, the last two weeks have seen major and quite astonishing setbacks in both these transactions, leaving the industry in turmoil with many unanswered questions about the future of these projects. The resulting uncertainty has both political and legal implications.

On the one hand, Toulouse airport finds itself owned by a consortium that is no longer authorised to own it, leaving it in a legal quagmire that will take months to unpick. On the other hand, the sale of ADP may find itself being put out to a national referendum following a constitutional challenge using a procedure that has never been used before.

Continue Reading French airport market turbulence

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. As the cover of the latest issue of Airline Economics (pictured) demonstrates, we are seeing very high airline casualty rates at the moment, with forecasts of further collapses in the short and medium term. While it has been sad to see some greats fall (although the disappearances are attributed variously to flawed business models, rising fuel prices, Brexit uncertainty and lack of funding rather than a super-villain snapping his gauntleted fingers…), and we are undeniably looking at challenges as the industry cycle begins to turn, we are also seeing this provoke some self-reflection and perhaps re-direction in the industry.

Some of this reflection relates to Earth Day, which also happened in the last week, and while the commentary on the environmental impact of aviation is more or less constant, there are moments of hope peeping through the fog. We have written before about the need to develop some sort of Tony Stark-style arc reactor to innovate out a lot of the fuel-related environmental side effects, but (if we could turn for a moment from Iron Man to Thor and his lightning bolts…) there are also increasingly viable options emerging in electric technology, which are particularly suited for countries like Australia where there are high volumes of short-haul travel, and few cost-effective options for accessing remote areas. It is predicted that we could see electric 150-seat aircraft with a 500 km range in operation before 2030, which could significantly reduce both the environmental costs of air travel and the operating costs incurred by airlines running these routes, who would gradually become less reliant on expensive and polluting aviation fuel. Innovation in this vein would be a meaningful step forward for our industry. Continue Reading Aviation: Endgame (… not really)

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 the context of a 100 per cent carbon-neutral society, alongside clean fuels, high-speed electric rail, etc. At the industry level the conversation is centred on the new Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), as the mandatory emissions reporting requirement kicked in on 1 January this year.

Closer to home, we are also seeing incoming lessees, lessors and financiers asking these questions when re-leasing aircraft emerging from the various recent airline insolvencies, as people query the ongoing place of the familiar EU ETS letter and seek to understand where the new CORSIA reporting requirements will need to be accommodated in lease and finance documentation, and how this monitoring will be carried out and reported in practice. The freshly updated Green Loan Principles are also raising questions in asset finance generally, as the latest advice in relation to how these principles can be applied to revolving credit facilities clarifies the options available to operators and financiers in terms of green tranches within working capital revolvers.

What seems clear from all of these discussions is that the finance aspect of the industry will be equal in importance to technological advancement if aviation is to meet the targets and regulatory regimes to which it has signed up, within the necessary time frame.

CORSIA takes a two-pronged approach to ensuring that airlines are able to cap their emissions at 2020 levels, by imposing the reporting requirements mentioned above to encourage emissions reductions in the first instance by way of transparency, but also by establishing an offsetting scheme requiring carriers to buy carbon credits from other industries that have made more progress in their reductions, thereby financing advances in other fields while aviation technology catches up. As a result, it may be the case that we see airlines seeking to use green loans or green revolver tranches to finance the purchasing of these credits, which will encourage the development and meaningful implementation of emissions reductions technologies in various industries as well as in aviation, while simultaneously making investment in aviation more attractive to financiers keen to show participation (and tangible results) in green financing.

Intriguingly, it has been suggested that CORSIA might be a source of hope to industry generally, as an example of the ways in which the ‘profit incentive’ can be mobilised for environmental good. “In short,” it has been observed, “CORSIA could catalyse a global carbon market that drives investment in low-carbon fuels and technologies” (Less Than Zero). Aviation has a real opportunity to show leadership on this issue, despite the distance yet to be covered in terms of more efficient equipment and less harmful fuel sources. And with the next generation of aviation CEOs (now as young as 10 years old and already proving to be both observant and organised: Qantas boss Alan Joyce responds to letter from 10yo CEO of Oceania Express) watching us closely, the example we set and the changes we make now will be beyond price.