By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries
DUBLIN (Reuters) -Avolon and BOC Aviation, two of the world’s largest aircraft lessors, have fully settled lawsuits in the Irish courts against insurers over jets stranded in Russia following Western sanctions in 2022, they said on Friday.
Lessors are suing dozens of insurers around the world over losses of at least $8 billion after more than 400 planes were stranded in Russia following the sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine that forced the termination of their leases.
Smaller lessor Nordic Aviation Capital has also terminated proceedings against the insurers, a source involved in the case said.
A spokesperson for SMBC Aviation Capital also said it had reached settlements with Swiss Re and Scor Europe, two of the 18 insurers it is suing as part of a group of six lessors’ Irish High Court action that continued on Friday.
Avolon and BOC said they had discontinued their proceedings in Ireland after reaching commercial resolutions with their insurers.
Avolon, BOC and SMBC, three of the world’s five largest aircraft lessors, declined to disclose details of the settlements for commercial and confidentiality reasons.
Spokespeople for CDB Aviation, Nordic Aviation Capital and Hermes Aircraft – the three other lessors pursuing claims in Ireland – did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Singapore-based BOC said it would continue to pursue a separate claim against insurers in London’s High Court, where another trial by a group of lessors began last year.
The Irish High Court trial, which began last June, concerns around 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of insurance claims.
Dublin-based Avolon, the world’s second-biggest aircraft leasing company behind AerCap, recorded an impairment of $304 million in 2022 to cover the full financial impact of having 10 of its 1,000-plus fleet stuck in Russia. BOC took a write-down of $804 million in the same year relating to 17 aircraft.
Avolon and BOC’s Irish action was against more than a dozen insurers, including Lloyd’s of London, Chubb and Fidelis.
Since launching the lawsuits, some of which are also due to be heard in the United States, lessors have disclosed settlements with Russia totalling more than $2.5 billion for more than 100 jets, with ownership transferred to Russian airlines.
The trial in Ireland, where more than 60% of the world’s leased aircraft are owned or managed, is the largest ever heard in the country by number of lawyers.
($1 = 0.9622 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries. Editing by Mark Potter and Jane Merriman)
