Coral Gables, Fla.-based AerSale said Thursday it has acquired 19 747-400s from Japan Airlines, which is in the midst of an aggressive bankruptcy restructuring and made the decision this year to retire its 747-400 fleet.
AerSale CEO Nicolas Finazzo said the 19 aircraft are "the remaining 747-400 passenger aircraft in JAL's fleet" (
ATW Daily News, Sept. 1). He called the purchase "a substantial financial commitment to AerSale's growth plan, enabling us to provide quality aircraft that have been impeccably maintained by a top-tier international airline. This is the second of several large scale multi-fleet acquisitions included in our 2010 business plan, with another announcement to follow soon." Earlier this year, it acquired UPS's DC-8 freighter fleet (
ATW Daily News, Feb. 4).
AerSale describes itself as "a global provider of aftermarket aircraft, engines and their component parts to airlines, leasing companies and OEM/MRO service providers." COO Robert Nichols said some of the JAL 747-400s could be converted to freighters while others will be parted out.
"We believe most of these aircraft will continue to fly, whether as passenger aircraft or as freighters," he explained. "This said, we are proceeding to disassemble a few of the aircraft and a good many of the 76 GE CF6-80C2B1F engines installed on wing so as to position AerSale to become the leading provider of aftermarket CF6-80C2 engines and material."
Again a different group of airframes, but non the less impressive!