The Sky is the Limit

When: Wednesday, February 7, 2024, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Where: CCLS, Room 3.1, Queen Mary, University of London, 69 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A

Speaker: Paul Ng

A masterclass in the law and practice of aircraft and helicopter financing.

The aviation industry is a US$3 trillion industry which has seen rapid recovery since the pandemic. The financing of aircraft, the industry’s tool of trade, is a market which itself is more than US$250 billion a year for newly delivered aircraft.

This Masterclass introduced attendees to:

• why aircraft are perceived to be assets that are desirable to finance: they are high value with predictable depreciation, have high income generating ability and upon recovery in default may be reasonably easily re-deployed across the world.
• what makes up an aircraft (both the physical parts and its virtual parts (i.e. title to the aircraft) and explain certain unique features of title financing (and how it differs from project, real estate and corporate financing).
• key sources and methods of financing for aircraft (including export credit) and the role of leasing as an alternative avenue for the financing of the acquisition of aircraft.
• how aircraft as a moveable asset across international borders presents unique and real issues for financings as property and security rights can be treated very differently in different jurisdictions.
• international treaties which aim to unify and harmonize laws to promote greater certainty and predictability for financiers and lessors, including the Capetown Convention and Protocol on Matters specific to Aircraft Objects (which came into force in the UK in 2015).

Lastly, to conclude there was a “fire-side” style discussion on the practice of law as an international aviation finance lawyer with Paul, followed by questions and answers.

Speaker: Paul Ng (ead of Aviation - Partner, Rajah & Tann, Asia)

Paul is a senior statesman in the legal industry for aviation and transport having been practising in this sector for over 30 years across three continents. Paul has helmed some of the largest, most complex and first-of-its- kind aviation transactions in the sector involving asset-backed financing and bond issuances, multi-billion-dollar aircraft acquisitions and IPOs.

Who’s Who Legal has named him as “Best of the Best” Top 30 Aviation Practitioners in the world on multiple occasions and Chambers Asia Pacific has consistently recognised him as the leading lawyer for the region in Aviation Finance while clients have described him as “simply fantastic”. Not surprisingly Business Today in July 2023 listed Paul as one of the Top 10 most influential aviation finance lawyers revolutionising the Asia-Pacific Region.