Dubai Aerospace Enterprise’s fleet strategy will see the Dubai-based lessor surpass 1,000 aircraft and serve 191 airline customers across 79 countries following the close of its approximately $9.0 billion acquisition of Macquarie AirFinance, according to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. Chief executive officer Firoz Tarapore set out the lessor’s growth trajectory and market positioning in an interview conducted at the 82nd Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Rio de Janeiro.
From 700 to 1,000-plus: the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise fleet strategy in numbers
DAE, owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate’s government investment arm, entered the IATA AGM period with a fleet of around 700 aircraft. The Macquarie AirFinance transaction changes that position materially. ‘When that transaction closes, our fleet will be in excess of 1,000 aircraft, allowing us to serve customers in like 80-85 countries,’ Tarapore said.
The enterprise value of the deal is approximately $9.0 billion. On a combined basis, narrowbody aircraft will represent approximately 70% of the fleet, reflecting DAE’s deliberate concentration in that segment, per the company’s own disclosure on the transaction. The combined entity will serve 191 airline customers in 79 countries.
By aircraft count, the post-acquisition scale would place DAE third among global lessors. Tarapore, however, was measured about league-table positioning. ‘If you look at the number of aircraft, we will be the third largest out there, but for us it’s not that relevant,’ he said. ‘What’s relevant is the right number of aircraft to be relevant to our customers, to the OEMs, and to the suppliers.’
DAE reached this point through two acquisitions in quick succession: Nordic Aviation Capital, completed last year, added more than 200 assets, and the Macquarie AirFinance deal adds more than 300, taking the fleet from a 400-500 aircraft base just two years ago.
Niche focus: ATR72-600 and factory-fresh freighters
Rather than deploying capital across the full narrowbody and widebody spectrum, DAE has built concentrated positions in what Tarapore described as structurally distinct product lines. ‘We will focus on narrowbody and one widebody product from Boeing and Airbus each, and then two unique aircraft types,’ he explained.
Those two are the ATR72-600 and the factory-fresh B777 freighter. The Nordic Aviation Capital acquisition was a primary driver of DAE’s turboprop position. ‘We are now a lessor with the largest ATR72-600 position,’ Tarapore said, adding that the number of lessors active in the regional turboprop segment is far smaller relative to the narrowbody mainstream. ‘When you look at the number of lessors in this segment relative to the number of lessors in other narrowbody products, it may be five to 50,’ he said. ‘So, the proportionality is very different.’
The financial logic, in Tarapore’s framing, rests on scarcity. ‘The number of aircraft being made each year by the OEM is limited, and the number of lessors in this space is also limited, and when you put all those things together, that makes for a fairly unique financial proposition from a risk-reward perspective,’ he said. ‘It’s capital well deployed relative to other liquid narrowbody products, or even liquid widebody aircraft.’
MRO capacity in Amman and the outlook for airframe maintenance
Alongside its leasing operations, DAE runs an airframe heavy maintenance business from Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan. Tarapore was clear that the engineering division operates as an independent business line, with airline clients in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia rather than DAE’s own lessees as its primary customer base.
The Amman facility can accommodate up to 24 wide and narrow body aircraft simultaneously, according to DAE. Tarapore put total current capacity at 25 parallel lines of heavy maintenance following the addition of a new hangar last year. He described the facility as the fifth or sixth largest single-site airframe maintenance operation in the world.
On the market outlook, Tarapore pointed to structural demand drivers: more aircraft entering service, extended operational lives requiring additional checks, and the geographic reach of the Amman base. ‘Any carrier in Europe with a narrowbody fleet can fly into us nonstop. Any carrier in Africa can do the same, as can any carrier in the Middle East,’ he said. Further expansion is contingent on the geopolitical environment, but the intention to add maintenance lines annually is firm.
Leasing market conditions and the long-term case
Tarapore described current leasing conditions as ‘very conducive’, with firm pricing supported by a persistent aircraft shortage rooted in OEM delivery constraints and supply-chain bottlenecks extending to components such as landing gear. Demand has held up despite the sector’s historically price-sensitive character, keeping the operating environment favourable for lessors.
On the structural, 20-year view, he pointed to leasing’s current share of roughly 50% of the global fleet and the growth projections that Boeing and Airbus each publish. ‘If you look at the annual forecasts that Boeing and Airbus prepare for the next 20 years… even if leasing doesn’t increase [its market share], that’s a massive increase in the number of aircraft that lessors will have to finance,’ he said. The implication, in his framing, is that the number of lessor-financed aircraft will approximately double over that horizon regardless of share gains.
With the Macquarie AirFinance integration now under way, DAE’s stated next priority is reassessing whether its previously communicated optimal fleet range of 800 to 1,000 aircraft remains the right target given where the business now sits. ‘Now that we’re here, we need to examine whether that’s something different,’ Tarapore said, indicating that the strategic review of fleet sizing will shape the lessor’s next phase of capital deployment.
