AerCap awarded $1B insurance payment by English Commercial Court

AerCap (AER) Holdings has announced that in a judgment handed down, the Commercial Court in London found that its subsidiary, AerCap Ireland, is entitled to recover its claim for an indemnity of approximately $1B from the insurers under the “War and Allied Perils” Coverage section of its contingent and possessed insurance policy. This award is in respect of the aircraft and engines which AerCap and its affiliates formerly leased to Russian airlines and were not recovered from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The indemnity amount is due to be paid by July 2. All questions of interest and costs are adjourned to a further hearing to be fixed in September. The company said, “In 2022, we recognized a pre-tax net charge of $2.7B to our earnings, which included a total loss write-off with respect to the assets which remained in Russia and Ukraine and impairment losses with respect to the assets which we had recovered from Russia and Ukraine at that time. Following recoveries of $1.3B in 2023 and $195M in 2024, this indemnity award will bring AerCap’s total pre-tax recoveries relating to the Ukraine conflict to approximately $2.5B. The claims against insurers and reinsurers of the Russian airlines’ insurance policies in respect of a number of these assets remain ongoing in the Commercial Court in London and we intend to continue to vigorously pursue those claims. However, the collection, timing and amount of any potential further recoveries in respect of those claims are uncertain.”