Aircraft mega-deals prompt bubble warning from industry veterans

Aircraft mega-deals prompt bubble warning from industry veterans

In less than a year, the global aviation industry has gone from near annihilation to exuberant enthusiasm. Fleet groundings and huge losses have given way to massive profits, and airlines are outdoing one another with record orders. The industry’s newfound swagger was on full display Monday, when Indigo agreed to buy 500 Airbus SE jets, eclipsing a record set only months ago by Air India. Those add to huge purchases by Ryanair Holdings and Saudi startup earlier this year, with announced deals approaching 1,500 aircraft. But while one group of executives flex their corporate muscle, other industry veterans warn that the market is showing signs of overheating. “We have players flooding the market with a huge number of planes, I just hope that they’re doing this right,” said Akbar Al Baker, chief executive officer of Qatar Airways. Al Baker is a prominent customer of both Boeing and Airbus, with a long track record of striking his own splashy deals. So is Steve Udvar-Hazy, the aircraft leasing pioneer and co-founder of Air Lease Corporation. “It’s a little bit of a herd mentality that’s not justified by economics or reality,” Udvar-Hazy said in an interview at the Paris Air Show. “But this