Independent Director

Balance-sheet mandate

The company acquires, finances, leases and manages aircraft or related aviation assets under long-duration contracts. Economic value depends on lessee credit, lease enforceability, maintenance condition, records, jurisdiction, insurance, repossession ability, transition cost and residual market value. An aircraft's headline appraisal can diverge sharply from recoverable value when technical status or records are incomplete.

The Board seeks a finance-led Independent Director who can establish public-market discipline around asset values, lease income, maintenance reserves, impairment, foreign-currency liabilities, liquidity and concentration. The appointee must challenge models that assume uninterrupted rent, easy transition or stable residual value while underweighting maintenance, downtime, legal and remarketing realities.

Six finance tests

1. Lease income must reflect enforceable economics. Review rent, escalation, deposits, maintenance reserves, utilisation-related payments, concessions, defaults, modifications, termination and side arrangements. Income recognition should follow contractual substance and collectability.
2. Asset values must include technical condition. Challenge appraisals using age, configuration, utilisation, maintenance status, records, modification, engine or component position, storage, jurisdiction, transition cost and realistic buyer or lessee demand.
3. Impairment must be timely and independently governed. Test cash flows, downtime, recovery probability, maintenance exposure, reconfiguration, legal cost, remarketing period and discount rates. Management optimism cannot substitute for observable deterioration.
4. Funding must survive asset and market stress. Examine currency, interest rate, refinancing, lender concentration, security packages, covenants, margin calls, cross-default, trapped cash and liquidity under lessee failure or prolonged non-revenue periods.
5. Maintenance obligations must be economically visible. Reconcile reserves, return conditions, shop visits, life-limited parts, end-of-lease compensation, technical claims and lessor contributions. Cash held against maintenance is not free economic value.
6. IPO metrics must reconcile to contracts and assets. Standardise fleet ownership and management, utilisation, lease yield, average remaining term, collections, technical reserves, concentration, appraised value, debt, liquidity and cash return with stable definitions.

Audit Committee examinations

The Director will lead deep dives into significant leases, modifications, related parties, rent deferrals, maintenance-reserve accounting, asset-componentisation, depreciation, impairment, appraisals, hedging, foreign entities, tax, repossessed or off-lease assets, acquisitions and disclosures prepared for the offer process.

The Committee should have direct access to statutory audit, internal audit, finance, treasury, technical asset management, legal and risk. Suspected side terms, delayed impairment, unsupported appraisal assumptions or incomplete technical records must be independently escalatable.

Capital and asset decisions

The appointee will contribute to acquisitions, sale-and-leaseback transactions, portfolio sales, funding, hedging, lessee concentration, jurisdiction entry, repossession, lease restructuring, storage, reconfiguration and IPO timing. Every acquisition paper should state technical condition, lease enforceability, counterparty credit, maintenance position, funding, currency, transition risk, residual downside and alternative use.

The Board should compare approved asset returns with collected rent, maintenance cash, debt service, technical expenditure, downtime and realised sale proceeds. Portfolio growth that depends on valuation gains or favourable refinancing should receive heightened scrutiny.

Finance dashboard

Reporting should cover billed and collected rent; arrears and concessions; deposits and maintenance reserves; lessee, jurisdiction and asset concentration; off-lease days; technical status; appraisal movement; impairment triggers; repossession exposure; insurance; currency and interest-rate sensitivity; debt maturity; covenant headroom; restricted cash; audit findings; and IPO remediation.

Candidate profile

Candidates should have at least 25 years of senior experience across aviation finance, leasing, banking, structured finance, treasury, asset management, audit, aircraft technical management or public-company boards. Former CFOs, chief risk officers, leasing executives, treasury leaders, audit partners and Audit Committee Chairs may be suitable.

The candidate must understand that financial value depends on technical records and enforceable custody. Experience with cross-border assets, impairment, residual-value models, foreign currency, repossession, capital markets or an IPO will be particularly relevant.