Team size: 16

Key team members: Dan Kiely, head of legal; Mary Moroney, senior vice president legal; and Catherine Clarke, compliance, and contracts manager

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past year, our legal team has been involved in several significant transactions including operating lease, aircraft sales and acquisitions, and remarketing and restructurings. We continuously support our airline clients emerging from the pandemic – recently, one of our customers underwent the Chapter XI process under US bankruptcy law. We worked closely with the airline to restructure their business, continue operations, and retain their market position. Additionally, we successfully acquired and traded several aircraft during the year and transitioned and placed aircraft in multiple jurisdictions across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The aviation industry has faced many challenges over the past year. Covid-19 adversely impacted the industry and, in many ways, changed the shape of how business is done. A lot of our time last year was spent focusing on post-pandemic recovery and supporting resulting business initiatives. Consequently, our portfolio grew further during the year.

The most significant challenge for our business and legal team in 2022 was the imposition of sanctions on Russia. This was an urgent matter to us because we had several aircraft on lease to a Russian operator. The principal challenge was delivering clear advice to ensure full compliance with sanctions in a rapidly evolving environment with government agencies across many jurisdictions.

Has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities, and if so, how?

Climate change and sustainability was a key focus and compliance for our entire team last year. In the final quarter of 2022, our company became one of the founding members to commit to the ALI Sustainability Charter. This is the first set of ESG and climate aligned principles for the aviation industry which promotes collaboration across the aircraft leasing sector.

The Charter is based on aviation’s pathway to net zero in 2050 and covers the entire spectrum of ESG. This includes the acceleration of progress in future aircraft and low carbon technologies, and demonstration of leadership in carbon disclosures. We believe that a platform of this nature can greatly influence the aviation industry and pave the way for a sustainable future. As part of this, BoComm has partnered with leading aircraft and engine manufacturers to provide innovative, fuel efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft for our customers.