Gladiator Leasing, a subsidiary of Erste Group Bank AG, purchased an aeroplane owned by the American company Aircraft 28038 LLC (a subsidiary of Aircastle) - a global company involved in purchasing, leasing and sales of commercial aeroplanes. Enter Air, a Polish charter airline, remains the operator of the aeroplane. The airline has four permanent bases of operation: Chopin airport in Warsaw, the airport in Pyrzowice, the airport in Poznan and the airport in wroclaw, and leases a total of 14 Boeings, including the aeroplane belonging to Gladiator Leasing.

The CMS team that advised both the buyer and Erste Group Bank AG comprised Keith Wilson and Evonne Man from our London office as well as Malgorzata Chrusciak and Pawel Kulak from our Warsaw office. The team was responsible for all the legal aspects of the transaction, including the transfer of the aeroplane’s ownership, issues related to financing the purchase, governing law for securing claims under the credit agreement, securing the bank’s claims, registration of the new creditor and the securities in the civil aircraft register, and finally the successful closing of the transaction.

“Financing the purchase of aeroplanes is always highly complex, and every transaction is multifaceted even if only one aeroplane is purchased. Our experience of such transactions as well as of cooperating with companies from the aviation industry and banks specialising in financing the aviation sector allowed us to execute the transaction effectively” commented Malgorzata Chrusciak.

Aircastle was represented by Irish legal office McCann Fitzgerald, which specialises in aircraft finance transactions. The lessee, Enter Air, was supported by local legal office MMM Legal, which provides services to aviation and tourism companies.