Dr. Jim Stewart:

The statement I made there is based on our own research which involves identifying section 110 aircraft leasing firms and extracting data from their accounts over a number of years. The point I made is that for 2020, of 171 firms that were identified, 23% had negative equity of greater than 10%. These firms are still solvent. They still say they are solvent. They are still trading but, effectively, they are insolvent because their liabilities are far in excess of their assets. The firm has not gone into liquidation, but it may in fact be forced into liquidation. This is due to the Covid crisis and the crisis in the air travel business. It is compounded by Russia seizing all of these aircraft and the loss is being borne by Irish aircraft leasers. What will happen there? It is very difficult to know.

We should also note that a large portion of aircraft leasing assets in Ireland, the precise fraction of which I do not know, is owned by Chinese companies. It is difficult to work out what would be the reaction of Chinese companies to aircraft seized in Russia which are owned by Chinese companies via Ireland. That will puzzle me as to what exactly the reaction to or effects on the Irish aircraft leasing firm which is owned by a Chinese firm will be.