This commentary reviews the favourable 2026 Outlook for global aircraft leasing companies.

Key Highlights:
— Our view is for a favourable outlook for the global aircraft leasing sector in 2026. We anticipate good financial performance as aircraft lessors continue to benefit from the meaningful shortage of airworthy aircraft and engines relative to demand which should support improvement in lease yields and sound aircraft values.
— We expect global airline profitability to be solid in 2026 following forecasts for a good 2025, with improvement across all regions leading to favourable credit performance for lessors.
— Aircraft lessors we follow have a notable $19.3 billion of debt to refinance in 2026 as of their last reporting date, as well as the need to finance new aircraft deliveries from the OEMs. As a result, we anticipate lessors will continue to be active issuers in both the unsecured and ABS markets.

« Improving lease yields, strong gains on sale of aircraft with increasing sales activity, strong portfolio utilization rates and lower funding costs drove improving financial results for those lessors we follow through their most recent financial reporting date. Importantly, we see these dynamics continuing in 2026 benefiting aircraft lessors’ financial performance and supporting their credit profiles, » said David Laterza, Associate Managing Director – Global Non-Bank Financial Institution Ratings and David Petu, CFA, Senior Vice President, U.S. Structured Finance.

More detail here

Source: Morningstar DBRS European Communications