AIRCRAFT lease rates have yet to peak but could hit a plateau in the next 12 months, said the chief executive officer of Hong Kong-listed lessor BOC Aviation.

Steven Townend, chief executive of BOC Aviation, said that the industry did not see the current imbalance of supply and demand in the previous cycle between the Great Financial Crisis from 2008 to 2009 and pre-pandemic, but it was present to a certain extent in the pre-financial crisis in 2005-2007.

“...What we saw was that lease rates went up to a point and then kind of plateaued when the effects of interest rates were stripped out and these just reflected supply and demand. I don’t think we are at that plateau yet, depending on how quickly they move up, we could get there maybe within the next 12 months,” the veteran with 33 years of banking and leasing experience said on Wednesday (Apr 3).