Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Aircraft registration question

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Aircraft registration question

    Hey guys,

    So I got a job as a ramp agent with Swissport in Toronto about 3 months ago. We do a lot of airlines but my training is for basically Westjet and a few other T3 airlines. Two that we do are the Aer Lingus 757 and Alitalia A330.

    I noticed that the registration on the Aer Lingus aircraft is WI-LBS (for example) while Alitalia has EI-DIP (for example).

    I researched a bit thinking maybe Air Contractors (the operators of those 757's) was Italian, but it isn't, their main hub is Dublin so my question is why do both Irish aircraft and Italian aircraft have EI- for their registration, I thought all countries were unique
    I'm the guy... Porter Guy

  • #2
    Could it be that an Irish company owns the aircraft and they are on lease to the airlines you mentioned?

    Comment


    • #3
      I take it that when you typed the W of WI-LBS you missed the E key by one to the left ?

      Highkeas is indeed correct in what he says. It's not just Alitalia either. Quite a lot of airlines including Aeroflot and Virgin Regional have EI- registrations due to their aircraft being leased from Irish based companies.
      If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

      Comment


      • #4
        yes I meant EI, not WI lol, got a new desk top and I'm not used to the keyboard yet haha.

        yeah I noticed that when I was looking at the Aeroflot plane that is also has EI-.

        But I don't think Aeroflot or Alitalia have certain routes contracted out or else it would say who the aircraft are operated by
        I'm the guy... Porter Guy

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by porter guy View Post
          yes I meant EI, not WI lol, got a new desk top and I'm not used to the keyboard yet haha.

          yeah I noticed that when I was looking at the Aeroflot plane that is also has EI-.

          But I don't think Aeroflot or Alitalia have certain routes contracted out or else it would say who the aircraft are operated by
          You misunderstand. The aircraft are supplied by a lease company that has Irish registered aircraft. The lease companies don't operate the aircraft in any way, they just supply the airframe on a lease/hire basis to a company that doesn't want to buy an airframe outright. The aircraft retains its Irish registration so that the lessees don't have to re-register it their own country and the aircraft is simply painted in the lessees colours for the duration of the lease period.
          You will often see holiday charter airlines doing this. They might have a Boeing 737 fleet of their own that they can profitably operate all year but have a need for a larger aircraft ( say...Boeing 767-300) to cover a longer route or greater load factor for a 4 month summer season contract. In this case they will lease an aircraft from a lease company and paint it in their colours for 4 months which is MUCH cheaper than buying it outright. Some airlines don't even paint the aircraft to save even more money. Others will paint it in a hybrid scheme to show their trading name but retain most of the previous operating colours. An example of this is Transavia who leased A6-FDD from flyDubai, re-registered it as PH-FDD and partly painted it in their colours enough to show the trading name and logo as seen here..

          [photoid=7510658]
          If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by porter guy View Post
            yes I meant EI, not WI lol, got a new desk top and I'm not used to the keyboard yet haha.

            yeah I noticed that when I was looking at the Aeroflot plane that is also has EI-.

            But I don't think Aeroflot or Alitalia have certain routes contracted out or else it would say who the aircraft are operated by
            Leased aircraft are not the same as sub-contracted or contracted out aircraft.

            Many leased aircraft still adopt registrations from the operator's country. Tax-driven factors usually determine which is which.

            There are specific situations regarding Alitalia and Aeroflot. An Alitalia refinancing enabled an attractive sale and leaseback transaction on some of the fleet with an Irish lessor. Aeroflot's foreign fleet are EI- or VP- registered as Russia has a very high import tax on foreign built airframes.

            Comment


            • #7
              I just looked at the 2012 annual report for General Electric. It states that they own aircraft leased to others with an original cost of $49,954,000,000.

              Comment


              • #8
                Russian airlines only wear EI- or VP- regs to avoid taxes on western built aircraft registered in russia, AFAIK. Probably something similar for Alitalia.
                My photos on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/geridominguez

                Comment


                • #9
                  I may be wrong about that, but I think I read somewhere that Alitalia registers their aircraft in Ireland for insurance reasons.
                  Generally speaking, leased aircraft do not necessarily keep the registration of the lessor's home country.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    There are many variations on the theme when it comes to leasing. The aircraft can be operated under it's existing registration (which is why you see so many Irish registrations around the world) or it can be registered to the country of origin of the company leasing it.
                    It can be leased from a company which concentrates on leasing the aircraft out but does not itself operate any routes. (Think of that as being like a car hire company !)
                    It can be leased from an existing airline and either retain it's current registration (which is why we see Turkish Airlines using Indian VT- registered aircraft) or be re- registered onto the national register of the country it operates from.
                    It can be a straight forward rent the plane and the new operator ( the lessee) covers all costs such as fuel, maintenance etc. and supplies their own crew or it can be variations on that theme. The owner ( the lessor) might supply the aircraft and crew with the lessee paying salaries and paying for fuel etc or agree rental variations as required suitable for each party.

                    It's all a bit like renting a car really.

                    You can go to Hertz and rent the car insured with a full tank of fuel and return it with a full tank of fuel or you can go to Ford and take a three year lease on a new car with all insurances, maintenance and taxes included in the price with you just putting the fuel in it. You return the car after three years and either take another new car on the same deal or you can buy the first one outright.

                    There are other options as well but this is getting mighty confusing and I'm going to bed now and I'm going on holiday in the morning.......
                    ......to the Canary Islands........
                    .....where I'm renting a car. Fully insured, unlimited miles, return with a full tank.....
                    .....and drive it like I stole it !!
                    Last edited by brianw999; 2014-09-12, 20:54.
                    If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X