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SMBC signed a deal for 100 Boeing 737 MAXs.
FARNBOROUGH—Aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital, which announced its first Boeing 737 MAX-10 order at the airshow earlier this week, noted that airlines are planning their fleets further out and favoring larger aircraft.
SMBC signed deals for 100 Boeing 737 MAXs and 100 Airbus A320 family aircraft (35 A320neos, 65 A321neos, 40 MAX-8s and 60 MAX-10s) on July 20, the show’s opening day. These aircraft will begin deliveries in the early 2030s.
The Dublin-based lessor is owned by a Japanese consortium of companies affiliated with the Mitsui and Sumitomo groups.
“Typically, airlines will be looking at aircraft three to four years out,” SMBC Aviation Capital CEO Peter Barrett said. “They're increasingly looking further out, in terms of their needs.”
This trend is being fueled by a “fairly tight supply-demand market,” along with a focus on costs and the need to decarbonize.
“Airlines are making more decisions longer term as they seek to make their airlines more efficient,” Barrett said. “The ultimate fuel hedge is a more efficient aircraft.”
SMBC is also seeing demand among its customers for larger narrowbodies, triggering the MAX-10 order.
“Our interest is driven by our customers' needs and demands. And airlines want to up gauge,” he said. “There's going to be great potential for the MAX-10.”
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