Aviareto and the International Registry of Mobile Assets [Archives:2005/900/Local News]
SANA'A, Nov. 29 )Aviareto, a joint venture between SITA and Irish Government interests, has a contract with the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) to design, build, and manage the International Registry of Mobile Assets (Registry) for the benefit of users. The company draws on the joint strengths of SITA and the Irish aviation industry. As part of the implementation process for The Cape Town Convention, the Secretary General of ICAO issued a global tender in January 2004 for an organization to establish, and act as Registrar for, the International Registry of Mobile Assets. Aviareto, based in Dublin, was selected for the undertaking.
The Registry, which has passed final acceptance testing by ICAO, provides a central repository – an electronic database – that will record ownership and financial interests in mobile assets (airframes, aircraft engines and helicopters), establishing priority of interest in such holdings. As a result, the risk of lending can be better assessed allowing financial institutions to reduce the interest rates they currently charge.
The Registry will be a central vehicle in helping parties understand the extent to which they have legal rights in aircraft equipment. For the first time interests in aircraft equipment involving transactions in Cape Town Treaty contracting states will be accessible electronically in one place. This information is vital to the world's airlines, financers, leasing companies, manufacturers and governments.
Professor Ingo Walter of the Stern School of Business, New York University and Professor of International Management at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France led a recent study* on the economic benefits of the Cape Town Convention and the Registry to the aviation industry. The study covers a 20 year period from 2003 until 2023 and identifies economic benefits in five key areas:
– Access to more favorable international financing rates
– Access to secured financing
– Improvement of sovereign ratings
– Improvement of airline ratings
– Benefit to airline shareholders in the form of increased stock prices
According to the study, savings from access to more favorable international financing rates would save the industry billions of dollars in financing costs.
Many AACO member airlines continue to suffer from undercapitalization and tight liquidity. Consequently, financing and leasing costs are of particular importance for carriers looking to expand their operations or to replace ageing aircraft. Aviareto will benefit Middle East and North Africa's carriers and the global aviation community. Oman has already ratified the Cape Town Convention.
The Registry will go live on March 1st, 2006 as Malaysia recently became the 8th country to ratify the Cape Town Convention effectively bringing it into force.
Interested parties can go to www.aviareto.aero to learn more about this exciting community initiative and add their name to the mailing list to receive updates on the progress of the Registry.
* Taken from an independent study by New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, published February 22nd, 2005. Authors: Anthony Saunders, Anand Srinivasan and Ingo Walter.
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