Former Astraeus commercial director Shaun Monnery is spearheading a new company which will arrange seasonal aircraft leases from European airlines to carriers in Asia, as well as year-round placements.
Skygo is "not a leasing company that's going to buy aircraft and not a brokerage", said Monnery. Its aim is to source surplus aircraft from European carriers in the winter months and lease them to carriers in Asia for deployment in what would be their summer networks.
The company is backed by undisclosed Asian investors.
Monnery said Skygo is working with an unnamed airline in Cambodia and a Taiwanese carrier. It also hopes to sign agreements with one Vietnamese and one Thai carrier by the end of 2011.
On the European side, Skygo is "talking to carriers in the UK, Germany, Scandinavia and Southern Europe", said Monnery.
"Asian airlines want and need aircraft as they adopt a seasonal approach, and European operators have too many aircraft, especially in the winter season - the issue is they don't know how to talk to one another.
"But I find myself in the happy position of having spent the past six years placing European and American-sourced aircraft in Asia, and so I have not just the contacts, but the customers and providers too," said Monnery.
In addition to the seasonal leases, Skygo is planning to lease aircraft from lessors and sub-lease them to Asian carriers on a year-round basis. The company is "in talks with lessors", said Monnery, although he declined to identify the parties.
Monnery estimates that there will be about 120 unused aircraft in Europe this winter. The company plans to primarily source and place Boeing 757 (ETOPS), 737 and Airbus A320-family aircraft.
Monnery left UK-based Astraeus in March 2011. His new title at Skygo is executive vice-president.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
