Air Lease secures $329 million insurance settlement for jets stranded in Russia

By Ryan Hewlett

March 25 - (The Insurer) - Aviation lessor Air Lease Corporation said on Monday it had received $328.5 million in cash settlement proceeds from its insurers for losses related to aircraft detained in Russia.

NYSE-listed Air Lease said the settlement concerned litigation launched in California against insurers on its contingent and possessed insurance policy to recover losses relating to aircraft seized in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

The company said the $328.5 million in proceeds will be recorded as an insurance recovery in its Q1 2025 financial statements.

Air Lease has now recovered an aggregate of $424.3 million against the initial $791.0 million write-off of its interests in owned aircraft detained in Russia taken during the first quarter of 2022.

The lessor previously secured a $64.9 million settlement in December 2023 from insurers for four aircraft that were on lease to JSC Siberia Airlines at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Air Lease said it would now release its claims against the settling contingent and possessed insurers, and release its claims against the settling contingent and possessed insurers under the reinsurance policies at issue in the related litigation against the Russian airlines’ insurers and reinsurers in London.

The lessor said it would also dismiss the settling contingent and possessed insurers from the California litigation and London litigation.

“The company is currently in settlement discussions with other C&P insurers but cannot predict if any settlements with any remaining C&P insurers will occur and, if so, in what amounts,” said Air Lease in a stock exchange filing.

Fellow lessor SMBC Aviation Capital last week disclosed it had settled a lawsuit in the Irish courts against insurers over jets stranded in Russia.

The Irish Times on Friday reported that SMBC had reached an agreement with insurer Fidelis and was at an "advanced stage of resolution" with Chubb.

The Irish Times also reported that CDB Aviation had also reached an agreement with Fidelis and Ping An. A spokesperson for CDB Aviation declined to comment.