Emirates Will Buy 5 Airbus A380s From Lessor For USD 200 Million

Photo: jremes84 | Shutterstock

• Emirates will purchase five Airbus A380 aircraft from Doric Nimrod Air Two, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the acquisition of aircraft.
• Out of the five aircraft, three are currently stored or in maintenance.
• Airbus delivered the quintet between October 1, 2012, and November 30, 2012.

Lease-end transactions

According to Doric Nimrod Air Two’s filing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Emirates has agreed to purchase five A380 aircraft at the end of their respective lease agreements, which were expected to be between October 1 and November 30. The aircraft have belonged to Doric Nimrod Air Two and its special purpose vehicle (SPV), Doric Nimrod Air Two MSN 105, since Airbus delivered the quintet to Emirates.

The sale price of each aircraft was £30.71 million (USD 40.69 million), for a total transaction value of £153.53 million (USD 200.3 million). Following the closing of the transaction, the aircraft lessor plans to dissolve the company as soon as its shareholders receive payments, which the company expected to happen in Q1 2025.

Doric and Nimrod, whose SPV was also Doric Nimrod Air Two, were the to-be-dissolved company’s asset manager and corporate and shareholder adviser, respectively.

Five A380s

According to ch-aviation data, the five A380s, namely manufacturer serial numbers (MSN) 105, 106, 107, 109, and 110, were registered as A6-EDX, A6-EDY, A6-EDZ, A6-EEB, and A6-EEC, respectively.

Airbus delivered the aircraft between October 1, 2012, and November 30, 2012, with A6-EDX, A6-EDY, and A6-EDZ currently being stored or in maintenance, according to the site.

A6-EDX has not operated a flight in more than three years, Flightradar24 data showed, while A6-EDY and A6-EDZ landed at Dubai International Airport (DXB) have not operated a flight since their arrival at DXB in early August. Whether the pair of aircraft are currently undergoing their 12-year checks remains unclear. However, Doric Nimrod Air Two’s latest annual report pointed out that depending on the specific reactivation date of particular aircraft, Emirates could defer calendar-based maintenance checks until such time.

“This allows the airline to make use of the full maintenance interval once the operation of an aircraft resumes. One of the Group’s Aircraft [A6-EDX – ed. note] is in deep storage condition and could be reactivated within months, if required.”

The SPV had already sold two A380s, MSN 77 and MSN 90, registered as A6-EDP and A6-EDT, respectively, to Emirates. The DXB-based airline paid USD 35 million for the pair.

Majority owned fleet

Ch-aviation also indicated that out of its 263 aircraft, Emirates directly owns 138 and leases 108, with the status of the remaining 17 being unknown.

Among its owned aircraft were one Airbus A340-500, 63 A380, one Airbus Corporate Jet ACJ319, two Boeing 777F, six 777-200LR, and 65 777-300ER. Barring the A340-400 and ACJ319, ch-aviation estimated that the value of Emirates’ owned aircraft was USD 7 billion.