Air India and Willis Lease Sign ConstantThrust Agreement for Engine Sale & Leaseback

Air India has inked a sale and lease back agreement with Willis Lease Finance Corporation for 34 units of CFM56-5B engines which are installed on its Airbus A320 family fleet. As per the agreement, the engines will get a cover under Willis Lease’s ConstantThrust program which is considered more reliable and affordable than the traditional MRO shop visit programs.

As part of the sale side of the transaction, Willis Lease will purchase 34 engines from Air India powering 13 Airbus A321 aircraft and 4 Airbus A320 aircraft. Through ConstantThrust, Willis Lease will provide replacement and standby spare engines, allowing Air India to avoid potentially costly and unpredictable shop visits on engines powering a transitioning aircraft fleet. Willis Lease will also have an in-country team to co-ordinate and manage the entire programme and all logistics and transportation involved.

Speaking on the agreement, CCO of Air India, Mr. Nipun Aggarwal said, “This is a very unique and landmark transaction which will enable Air India to eliminate the maintenance burden and fully de-risk itself from the maintenance cost uncertainty associated with the engines which were not covered under any “Power By The Hour” program with the OEMs. This transaction will allow Air India to derisk itself operationally, improve fleet reliability, reduce cost, and optimize cash flows.”

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“Air India ran a rigorous process to evaluate all options for managing the substantial maintenance, operational risk and logistical burden these engines would have created, and we are proud that all the benefits of ConstantThrust® rose to the top in the end,” said Brian R. Hole, President of Willis Lease. “Air India’s selection of ConstantThrust validates our longstanding belief that traditional options are not the only options for airlines willing to spend the time to fully investigate the benefits of our programmatic solutions.”

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