By Business & Finance 
Jim Murphy, Chief Commercial Officer of Nordic Capital (left) and Graeme Buchanan, Managing Director of Stobart Air.
Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), the world’s largest regional aircraft lessor, and 4th largest commercial aircraft leasing company, announced that it has delivered its twenty-second year of strong financial performance.
According to its new annual report, in the fiscal year ending 30 June 2018, the company had a $6.3 billion portfolio of 426 aircraft and 71 clients across 48 countries. Lease revenue increased from $690 million to $780 million in the past fiscal year, with a business performance result of $160.2 million.
During the fiscal year, NAC added 79 aircraft to the owned and managed fleet. At the end of the year, the company owned 426 aircraft, managed 11, and had purchase commitments for 84, totalling 521 aircraft. The company invested $1.5B in regional aircraft for the third year running.
Commenting, Jim Murphy, Chief Commercial Officer of NAC said that today’s results show that “our strategy is on target and our Irish operation is a key part of our global success.”
“In 2018, we completed a significant number of transactions from single aircraft to large portfolio acquisitions. We took delivery of 20 new aircraft and purchased 59 second-hand aircraft. We added additional regional jet customers to our portfolio and increased our lease revenue from regional jet aircraft, which now accounts for 44% of our total lease revenue.
NAC’s customers include British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, LOT Polish Airlines, Alitalia and Dublin based Stobart Air (operator of Aer Lingus Regional) among others.
Fleet, infrastructure, aircraft and IT investment helps build success
Søren M. Overgaard, CEO of NAC, said that the company’s continued success is driven from its investment in assets and infrastructure, as well as its global team’s expertise and their deep knowledge of their customers and markets.
We continued to build on the previous year’s fleet and infrastructure, investing in both aircraft and IT in the past twelve months. We spend more than $1.5 billion on aircraft in the past year. Our ability to identify best-in-class aircraft at competitive prices and our exceptional execution abilities have allowed us to build fleet strength for immediate, as well as future, business growth.
He continued: “Ultimately, our success is built on our people. We have continued investing in developing the skills needed for the regional aviation industry and because of our people, we can deliver continued growth and profitability.”
Growth leads to new offices in Limerick city in 2019
Headquartered in Limerick, the company employs 80 people in Ireland – up from 20 in 2013.
Due to the continued growth of the company in Ireland, NAC will relocate to a brand-new office development – Gardens International – in Limerick city in early 2019.
NAC employs 220 people globally with offices in Denmark, United States, Canada, Singapore and a newly opened office in Hong Kong.
