Traditionally, aircraft leasing companies incorporate a separate
company in respect of the purchase and lease of each aircraft in
their portfolio. For larger leasing companies this could mean that
they have dozens of companies which they then need to manage and
administer, with the accompanying associated costs.
What options are there? One that is often considered is the use
of a trust, but that can create issues as the concept of a trust
itself may not be familiar in jurisdictions where their lessees
operate and is subject to common law and statutory law quite
different from company law.
Bermuda has two options that could offer more cost efficiency
and administrative ease.
The first is a segregated account company. Bermuda segregated
account companies (SACs) are well known and widely accepted
structures used by Bermuda insurance companies and investment
funds. The benefits they offer include operational efficiency,
flexibility and the secure ring-fencing of
