Members Update: Pre-owned and lighter aircraft trends in business aviation with Swiss Aviation Consulting
An interview with Simon Diggelmann, VP APAC & Asset Management at Swiss Aviation Consulting
1: Please describe your business in 100 words or less, for those that are not familiar.
Swiss Aviation Consulting is a leading full-service advisory firm for the aviation industry standing for innovative and personalized services, multicultural capability and independence.
Privately owned, our group of companies is independent of any financial institution, manufacturer, operator, insurance company or maintenance provider assuring our clients the benefit of truly unbiased, comprehensive and flexible provision of service.
We have offices in Zug Switzerland and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and representatives in the U.A.E., Brazil, USA and South Africa.
Our two main business units focus on A/C Asset Management and Flight Ops Compliance.
Asset Management services include: technical aircraft and records reviews, operator audits, lease portfolio management (incl. full transitions and re-delivery management), valuations and aircraft acquisition and sales. Furthermore we have an EASA CAMO approval managing a fleet of aircraft ranging from Gulfstream G200 to Bombardier Global 5000 and ATR72.
Tailored services ensure your assets are operated and maintained in accordance with leading edge industry standards, optimized to ensure maximum investors asset retention value.
Compliance services include; IS-BAO certification, AOC startup, drafting and updating of operating and technical manuals and operating cost reviews.
2: Where are your clients based?
The biggest client base is in Europe followed by Asia and the United States, mainly consisting of banks, operating lessors, owners family offices and aircraft operators.
Our team visited around 40 countries last year and we are always keen to explore new opportunities, this year with a special focus in India, Brazil, Mexico and Central and Southeast Asia.
3: If you could offer three pieces of golden advice to your clients, what would it be?
- Only buy what you really need. (No purely emotional based purchases)
- Conduct an in-depth due diligence before placing any investments in an aircraft, aircraft portfolio or a company.
- Hire or engage a team of recognized professionals to operate, maintain and safeguard your assets and investments.
4: In Asia, buying pre-owned aircraft and lighter aircraft is growing in popularity. Has this been reflected in your operations?
Indeed we have seen that buying and financing preowned aircraft is becoming increasingly more popular and broadly accepted in the region which wasn’t the case a few years back when everyone wanted new aircraft.
The depreciation in the first 2 years buying a new aircraft is similar to a car, 20% or more, meaning buying preowned you get an almost new aircraft for great value.
The only disadvantage is that you can’t fully tailor the cabin in terms of layout, materials and colors used.
The same counts for the growing popularity of lighter aircraft, which in my opinion is a sign for a maturing market in Asia.
Depending on the client’s mission profile, lighter aircraft may offer nearly the same flexibility, flying private for a fraction of the cost of a large business jet.
5: How will Europe’s dominant force on sustainability affect the sector in Asia in the next five years?
I was participating at this year’s Corporate Jet Investors event in London and it was certainly a big subject there, however many go greener initiatives appear to be in an early stage in the private aviation environment.
Big asset managers such as Blackrock and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund are actively putting pressure on companies they have invested in to become more environmentally friendly.
These changes will come to Asia in one form or another in the next five years.