Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has revealed that it has received $201 million in cash settlements over the past three months from selected insurance companies for aircraft previously leased to airline carriers in the Russian Federation.
For context, hundreds of aircraft and engines remain stranded in Russia due to sanctions imposed by the US, UK, and EU on the Russian government and entities following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Experts from Morningstar DBRS suggested at the time that the situation would require complex arbitration and legal procedures, and may take years to resolve.
In July 2023, it was reported that over 40 aviation leasing firms, including DAE, were entangled in disputes with insurers over responsibility for up to $10 billion in costs related to jets stranded in Russia.
These firms were petitioning London’s High Court to have the cases heard in London rather than Moscow
As per DAE, it has now received cumulative cash proceeds of $319 million, including the settlement in 2023 with certain parties with respect to seven aircraft.
DAE stated that it will continue to actively pursue litigation in the English courts under its insurance policies and will persist in its efforts to mitigate losses related to aircraft previously leased to Russian airlines.
In related news, AerCap Holdings, another leasing firm, announced in February 2024 that it collected over $600 million of insurance settlements during Q4 of 2023, making a total of $1.3 billion collected during 2023.
“During the fourth quarter of 2023, we recognized recoveries related to the Ukraine Conflict of $614 million, primarily consisting of cash insurance settlement proceeds received from four Russian airlines and their Russian insurers in settlement of our insurance claims in respect of 50 aircraft and five spare engines on lease to these airlines at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” the firm stated.
