Dubai Airshow: Red letter day for De Havilland Canada

Associated company, Palma Capital, also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the show with De Havilland Canada and Export Development Canada for cooperation between the three organisations regarding potential Dash 8-400 transactions – including sales, leases and sale-and-leasebacks – in the Middle East and Africa.

The MoU gives the three organisations opportunities to develop funding for the purchase of De Havilland Canada aircraft for onward lease to third-parties.

If a purchase agreement for the 20 aircraft is finalised, the deal will be the most significant for De Havilland since it took over the Dash 8 design from Bombardier earlier this year. A deal for 20 aircraft would substantially increase the Toronto manufacturer’s backlog.

“Palma became the first lessor worldwide to order the Dash 8-400 in its dual-class configuration and this decision led us to develop other opportunities for the aircraft,” said Moulay Omar Alaoui, president of Palma Holding

“We have leased new Dash 8-400s to Ethiopian Airlines, RwandAir and Falcon Aviation, and we see many more opportunities for this versatile aircraft.”

Anas Bennani, Palma’s managing director, said there would be news “soon” on placements for aircraft in the LoI.

De Havilland Canada COO, Todd Young, said: “We are very encouraged by the Palma LoI. The Dash 8-400 has been proving itself in the Middle East and Africa for quite some time and we feel that we are on the brink of even greater success as we continue to work with lessors, such as Palma, to support the development of the region’s air transportation networks.”

Alaoui added that the MoU with Export Development Canada meant that Palma could aim at “a more systematic cooperation, rather than doing it on a deal-by-deal basis.”