Helicopter lessors are looking forward to business stability after a decade of turbulence, said speakers at Helicopter Investor’s Financial Forum. Plus, inflation could boost demand for leased helicopters.

“The past 10 years have been quite challenging – particularly the past seven years,” according to Sebastien Moulin, head of Europe & Americas, Milestone Aviation. “But we have seen a lot of changes and some M&A [merger and acquisition] activity and we’ve learnt a lot of lessons.

“There is a lot of maturity on the lessor side. We are all focusing on different segments and the lessees know where they need to go to get the services they need.” (Earlier this year, Milestone Aviation’s parent company, GE Capital Aviation Services, GECAS, was acquired by Dublin-based lessor AerCap Holdings). 

While not recession-proof, the emergency medical services (EMS) parapublic segments remained stable during the pandemic, said Moulin. The oil and gas market has been challenging over the past seven years, but there’s been a strong recovery over the past 18 months, especially in 2022, he said.

Milestone had completed a record number of transactions, more than 110 transactions by early November, serving over 50 customers in 40 countries, with more than 330 aircraft in its fleet. But significant challenges continue to face the sector. “There are the increasing interest rates we all face, supply chain challenges and the lack of aircraft…