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AELIS Group reaching new milestones

15/11/2014 by Aviation Times

AVIATION TIMES interviews Philippe Lienard shortly before CEPA Expo 2014

During the last year the AELIS Group have posted some significant results with 85% growth in aircraft sales and leasing transactions rate compared to the previous year. To back this up the company has opened new offices in Asia, Central and South America and Africa. This year AELIS has been successful with the new business model “Aircraft Investment Solution”, which is a tailor-made benefit opportunity to bring the desired aircraft to the operator, and a foreseeable stream of revenue over a defined time frame to the investor.

Philippe Lienard, CEO of the AELIS Group recently spoke with AVIATION TIMES about the group’s activities in Central and Eastern Europe. We first asked him how important the CEE region is to the AELIS Group. Philippe replied. “The CEE is so important for AELIS Group that we established our HQ in Bratislava. It is a developing region, moreover it is the only region in Europe with real growth. In the CEE, we believe that knowledge and experience are crucial for the client, which has been demonstrated by positive feedback on the quality and relevance of our services. The fact that we entered the industry 25 years ago demonstrates our experience and expertise in the region.“

When questioned further about the region Philippe advised “Despite the full integration of the CEE in Europe, the western European financial institutions and opinion leaders still see the CEE as a “risky area”. Our role is to change this impression and highlight reasons for investment.”

Talking about recent business developments, for Aelis, in the CEE region Philippe explained “In 2014, the AELIS Group has purchased, sold and financed 2 VIP aircraft, 5 regional aircraft and 3 engines in/out of CEE. Our activity is global, and even if business within CEE is very limited, our activity in the CEE as Seller, Financer or Recipient for the aircraft is very important.”

In summary we concluded that the AELIS Group have been very successful in many parts of the world, but questioned Philippe on the key factors that he thinks are important to successfully do business in Central Europe? He responded by saying “The main criteria for our success is confidence and respect. The CEE is a region that has often been seen by western European and American companies as a “one shot” deal, where a transaction can be carried out from an office in London or New York without a real long term involvement. Nowadays, the people in the CEE are more cautious and will not build up trust in companies which have not demonstrated a high level of expertise and persistent reliability. As an illustration of this the AELIS Group has been established in Slovakia for more than 5 years. The board members live in Slovakia, our staff speaks Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and of course, English, German, French or even Chinese. We do care and respect people, we understand the way of life in the CEE, we know the banks, the operators, the private clients, we have a track record and “word of mouth” has created our well-deserved reputation.“