DAE Capital has received a cash insurance settlement of around USD118 million for its aircraft previously dry-leased to Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo), the Dubai-based lessor announced in a statement on December 19.
The sum represents an agreement over DAE’s insurance claims under the Russian flag carrier’s insurance and reinsurance policies relating to “seven aircraft and associated engines,” it said. Receipt of the proceeds from Russian state-owned insurer NSK “was carried out in full compliance with all applicable sanctions regimes,” it added.
Effective on receipt of these insurance settlement proceeds, “each DAE-affiliated entity involved in the leases to Aeroflot has released its claims against NSK, Aeroflot, and their international reinsurers with respect to these aircraft and engines.”
The deal is linked to USD1 billion in claims that the lessor filed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February 2022. Along with other lessors, DAE terminated contracts with Russian airlines due to the international sanctions imposed on Russia, when Moscow prevented some 400 foreign-owned aircraft from leaving the country.
According to Reuters, DAE also registered a USD538 million write-off from its aircraft stranded in Russia.
The settlement follows a similar deal that the majority state-owned Aeroflot, Pobeda, and Rossiya parent Aeroflot Group struck with AerCap and subsequently forged with lessors such as SMBC Aviation Capital, CDB Aviation, and BOC Aviation.
DAE Capital additionally said in its statement that “insurance settlement discussions are ongoing with respect to DAE’s claims under the insurance policies of several other Russian airlines. However, it is uncertain whether any of these discussions will result in any insurance settlement or receipt of insurance settlement proceeds and, if so, in what amount. In particular, it remains uncertain whether the necessary approvals and funding to complete any such further insurance settlements can be obtained.”
