SAC ELEVATOR BRIEFING No. 10
Dear valued reader,
Southeast Asia is slowly opening up again and cross border travelling is returning to become part of daily business activities in a steady recovery process from the COVID crisis. SAC has been monitoring the latest trends and changes very closely out of its Kuala Lumpur office and has developed its own assessment of the situation:
The air route between Singapore and Malaysia one of the world’s busiest, is set to resume quarantine-free travel. Singapore and Malaysia just announced that they allow cross border travel again among the two countries via a vaccinated travel lane starting 29 of November 2021. Before the pandemic, the one-hour flight between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was one of the busiest international air routes in the world with 5.56 million seats available, according to travel data available online. It ranked just behind flights between Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan. Furthermore, India and Cambodia and Thailand allow foreign vaccinated visitors to enter their respective country without undergoing quarantine. Overall good news for the region. It has to be seen if East Asia follows suit and relaxes their very stringent and lengthy quarantine requirements in due course.
No matter if Southeast Asia or other continents. The current demand for 2nd hand business jets is triggering a wave of requests with brokers and financial institutions. A busy period for all involved in Pre-Purchase Inspections, Operator Audits, Cost Analyses and Contract Advisories adding to the activity levels, even though not all efforts lead to the longed for transaction closings. Sellers, lessors, brokers and MROs seem to be the winners. But also 2nd tier service suppliers offering appraisals and interims Continuing Airworthiness Management profit if linked to the right networks. Again, the personal network seems to be one crucial factor for being part of the game, and sure enough the game will change once the first wave of high demand is turning into the 2nd wave of strong supply after 1-2 years’ time.
SAC Business Review
US Calling
The high demand for business jets in times of never ending COVID news is causing potential US buyers to look abroad for finding the right catch in a pretty much dry market for special types. SAC was happy to team up with OGARAJETS, based in Atlanta, Georgia, to act as commercial and technical representative for the buyers of one CL604 and G280 in Central Europe. The main focus for SAC was the PPI oversight and technical evaluation in both cases.
ATR 72-600 Sold and Enrolled into our CAMO & Operations Management Solution
SAC successfully arranged the sale of a 2013 ATR 72-600 to a regional aircraft leasing firm just in time for the 40 years ATR anniversary.
1800+ plus ATR aircraft have been sold since the company’s foundation and it remains the dominant regional turboprop platform. SAC was initially engaged as aircraft remarketing agent by the seller, a state-owned enterprise located in Southeast Asia, to arrange the sale of the aircraft and manage the entire transaction. Due to COVID travel restrictions SAC also supported the buyer arranging the PPI inspection which resulted in additional contracts covering maintenance check oversight, CAMO and airworthiness management, registering the aircraft and obtain the new certificate of airworthiness and operate the aircraft in accordance with EASA Part NCC regulations. The entire project was managed from our Kuala Lumpur office.
Meet the SAC Team
Name: Simon Diggelmann
Job Title: VP Asia Pacific & Asset Management
Location: SAC Office Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Simon, what do you enjoy about the work you do?
“The versatility of it, every day is different, and you get insights into many different businesses globally and fields within the aviation sector. Plus, pre covid I was traveling on a weekly basis visiting clients and participating in various trade shows and events dealing with different cultures. I really enjoy that. Before joining SAC I haven’t had much exposure to the aviation finance & leasing community or utility, oil & gas operations for example. It was very interesting for me to broaden my horizon in that direction.”
What has been your favorite project so far?
“I had many good projects. One which I will always remember was establishing the first Cayman offshore 121 AOC for a client in Asia. Another one was a due diligence project where I went to Brazil with an institutional investor who wanted to purchase a stake in an aviation organization there. We flew over Rio de Janeiro with an AW139 chopper and around the famous Corcovado before heading to another city continuing our due diligence there. Most recently arranging the sale of an ATR 72-600 in the midst of the covid pandemic and advising an Asian bank on their first investment into the aviation sector, financing Boeing 737NG freighters.”
Where is your favourite place in the world?
“Couldn’t name a single place in the world as my absolute favorite. There are many good spots. I only made it to 85 countries so far – still got some 115 to go before I could answer that question.
Some of my current favorites are Dubai UAE during the winter, Langkawi & Pulau Redang in Malaysia for the perfect Island and Beach vacation, Moscow and St Petersburg for white nights in summer, Samarkand Uzbekistan & Rome Italy, if you want to explore a place with a lot of history.”
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
“Travelling, running and go kart racing. I also enjoy a good bottle of wine once in a while and investing in cryptocurrencies and stocks.”
If you had to pick one strength you bring to a team, what would that be?
“I am optimistic, I don’t see problems only solutions! Screw it lets do it, I will figure out the details and sort out possible obstacles later along the way.”