Thoughts from London, Istanbul, New York and Singapore Conferences
I t has been a busy few months with the Phoenix American team attending conferences in London, Istanbul, New York and Singapore. Now that our feet are back on the ground, we felt it a good time to reflect on our takeaways from these conferences.
In London, Airline Economics hosted an excellent conference which kicked off the season. We celebrated our colleague, Eibhlín O’Connor, accepting her well-deserved ’40 under 40’ award. The awards ceremony was a great celebration of the up and coming talent in the aviation industry. Also, at this conference, Robert Cassidy sat down with Javier Meireles (CFO and COO of Carlyle Aviation Partners) for a fireside chat on the return of the aviation ABS market and reflecting on Carlyle’s journey in this market over the last few years.
Next stop for us was ISTAT EMEA in Istanbul. This was a very well attended event with close to 2000 aviation professionals in attendance. The buzz around the conference at the opening reception was that Boeing (a headline sponsor) would not be attending due to the workers strike which had started a couple of weeks previously. In the sessions, there was renewed optimism over the aviation capital markets and the return of the aviation ABS market earlier that year. This optimism was led by the recent cut in rates by the Fed. The delay in deliveries from the OEMs dominated discussions with one panel noting that it could be a blessing in disguise with the over capacity starting to appear in some markets. The talk in the halls of the conference focused on the pick up in asset trading with many delegates optimistic for a busy Q4 on that front. As all the delegates returned to their bases they reflected on a very good conference in an excellent venue.
Photos from London, Istanbul, New York and Singapore Conferences
The following month, we travelled to New York City for the Airline Economics and Ishka conferences. This is always a busy week with the imminent US election dominating conversations inside and outside the conferences. Both conferences were very well attended with delegates eager to connect with other industry professionals. The uncertainty around the US elections led delegates to believe that there will be limited aviation ABS activity for the remainder of 2024 after the latest Carlyle deal, AASET 2024-2, closes. Perhaps one loan deal which was rumoured already in the market would launch in November. There is optimism for a busy Q1 2025 in the aviation ABS market with deals already being positioned. This was one of a variety of topics discussed on the Aviation ABS panel at the Airline Economics conference which was moderated by Phoenix American’s own Robert Cassidy. The panel also discussed the return of junior tranches of debt and were predicting the return of the C Note market in the next couple of years too. The return of aviation ABS came up on most panels throughout both conferences and was definitely one of the main topics of the week. Having caught up with many industry colleagues, new and old, we departed New York hopeful for the aviation ABS market to return to full strength in 2025.
Our last stop for 2024 was Airline Economics in Singapore. We used the conference as an excellent opportunity to connect with our Asian based industry colleagues and discuss the Asian aviation market with delegates at the conference. With the US election taking place over the two days of the conference, the outcome of this shaped a lot of discussions. John McInerney participated in the aviation ABS panel in this conference where the optimistic sentiment was echoed on this panel. The panel reflected on the deals closed in 2024 and also looked ahead to 2025 and beyond.
Having returned to our respective bases, we have used the last few weeks to reflect on the conferences that we attended over the last few months. We look to 2025 with optimism for the aviation ABS market and the wider aviation market as a whole. As all eyes turn to Dublin Conference week in January 2025, we look forward too hopefully another productive conference and year for Phoenix American.
