With particular expertise in aviation finance structures, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP acts for several leading airlines, aircraft leasing companies, and financial institutions. The practice boasts a robust track record of advising on major asset-backed security and enhanced equipment trust certificate transactions. In addition to financings, the group’s expertise extends to aviation-related securities offerings, M&A, inter-airline matters, bankruptcies, and litigation. International finance and corporate deal specialist Steven Chung chairs the firm’s aviation finance group from Washington DC, where Andrew Fowler advises lessors and underwriters on aircraft portfolio securitizations, equity offerings, loans, structured financings, joint ventures, and secured loans. Also in DC, Thomas Healey is another highly-regarded aviation finance law expert. The practice further features Miami’s Mark Denham, whose commercial and business aviation experience includes aircraft leases and loans, pre-delivery payment financings, warehouse facilities, securitizations, and aircraft purchases and sales, and asset finance deal specialist Terry Sanders in New York. Cynthia Liu departed the firm in January 2024.
Key clients
- Bain Capital Credit LP
- Griffin Global Asset Management LLC
- Air Lease Corporation
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Republic Airways
- Citibank
- Goldman Sachs
- JetBlue Airways
- Diversified Aero Services Incorporated
- Lufthansa
- Arajet
Work highlights
- Represented Holdings Lender, LLC and Bain Capital Griffin LO Holdco III, L.P. on a recent pre-delivery payment back-leverage financing, in relation to nine JetSMART and three Viva Air aircraft.
- Represented the arrangers, lenders and agents, which included Citibank, N.A. and Goldman Sachs USA, in a $2bn senior secured credit facility to Setanta Aircraft Leasing DAC, a special purpose borrower of the AerCap Holdings Group.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Steven Chung