Dubai Aerospace's to invest $2 billion through 2009 to acquire more aircraft

Dubai: State-owned aviation services company, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), has said it will spend another $2 billion through 2009 towards expanding its leasing fleet. This will be over and above the order placed in November last year when the DAE's leasing unit, DAE Capital, placed orders for 200 Airbus and Boeing aircraft at the Dubai Air Show.

A DAE Capital official said that the company currently had 30 planes with a value of around $1.5 billion and may opt for purchase of another 30 this year.

DAE Capital has forecast that 35 per cent of its fleet will be leased in Asia within five years, with Europe and the Middle East accounting for about 25 per cent each and the Americas 15 per cent.

Deliveries of the 200 aircraft ordered at the Dubai Air Show begin in 2010.

In an interview with newswire Bloomberg, Robert Genise, chief executive officer of DAE Capital, said his company will focus on acquiring wide-body aircraft such as Airbus's A350 and Boeing's 787 and 777 models for use in sale and leaseback deals with airlines.

Dubai Aerospace intends to compete with International Lease Finance Corp and GE Commercial Aviation Services, the world's two biggest airplane lessors.

Its investments are part of the overall impetus being provided to the aviation sector by the Dubai government, which has earmarked more than $82 billion towards raising infrastructure in the sector including an airport bigger in size than London's Heathrow and Chicago's O'Hare combined.