LeaseWorks Facilitates Digitization of AviLease’s Commercial and Asset Management Operations 

Saudi Arabian Aviation Innovator Alters Lessor Competitive Landscape by Embracing Technology to Propel Its Growing Platform 

ISTANBUL – September 23, 2024 – LeaseWorks®, a Portside company, announced at the ISTAT EMEA 2024 conference its partnership with a new customer, AviLease, the rapidly expanding global aircraft lessor. 

AviLease has a two-year strong track record of remarkable contributions to supporting the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 that aims to propel the expansion of the Kingdom’s homegrown aviation sector. AviLease has prioritized digitization as a strategic lever in strengthening its disruptive business model to strengthen its agility and operational efficiency further and lead by creating industry-leading shareholder value.

“Industry innovators, like AviLease, are rapidly altering the competitive landscape by investing in partnerships with software companies to integrate specialized expertise and technology solutions,” explains Haseem Vazhayil, President, LeaseWorks. “By embedding digitization in its corporate DNA, AviLease quickly set itself apart from the competition, establishing an operating model that challenges the old ways of leveraging analytics and insights for decision-making.”

As part of its innovative digitization initiative, AviLease has implemented LeaseWorks’ flagship products – Aeris MATCH^TM, for digitizing commercial operations, and Aeris ASSET^TM, for managing finance, contract and technical aircraft management. 

AviLease Chief Executive Officer, Edward O’Byrne, says: “Integrating advanced digital tools is central to our operational philosophy, as we aim to draw on real-time information to achieve higher efficiencies and optimization. With Saudi Arabia at the forefront of embracing digital tools in line with the goals of Vision 2030, our digital transformation strategy will contribute to long-term value creation. The new partnership will help us achieve higher levels of customization and faster delivery of solutions across our value chain.”

“We are proud to partner with AviLease, whose leadership has demonstrated a clear vision by digitizing their commercial and asset management operations,” adds Vazhayil. “We are excited to work with such a talented team to optimize costs and bring the benefits of automation to their platform as they continue to scale.”

About AviLease 

AviLease is a global leader with a two-fold mandate. As a full-service commercial aircraft lessor, AviLease is passionately dedicated to delivering tailored fleet solutions to our esteemed airline partners. Whether engaging in leasing, trading, or asset management, our seasoned international team of industry experts is ready to provide unparalleled assistance.

AviLease is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, since its establishment in 2022, AviLease has rapidly expanded its portfolio, featuring new technology Airbus and Boeing fleets.

AviLease is strategically positioned as an industrial, disciplined investor here to stay for the long-term. Our approach at AviLease integrates stable financial returns for our shareholders with sustainable country-level impact. www.avilease.com

Time. Kills. Deals.

If you’re an aircraft lessor, you already know that delays in each stage of a marketing or trading deal decreases the chances of your firm being first to the finish line. Delays in delivering the client the information they need open the door for a fast moving competitor to take the opportunity away from you! 

Let’s break it down.

Here are some of the circumstances that put deals at risk: 

• Accelerate gathering deal requirements
• Quickly match assets
• Streamline process and approvals

Accelerate gathering deal requirements

One of the most significant challenges in placing or trading aircraft is the time-consuming process of gathering deal requirements. These delays can slow down the entire transaction, causing you to miss out on valuable opportunities. 

For commercial teams, time is of the essence. Structuring the information flow well can help you centralize all the key information in the right place at the right time. When that process is digitized, software systems can alert for missing information, automatically notifying colleagues who may play a supporting role in moving deals forward. 

By utilizing a software product like AerisMATCH, lessors can streamline their deal process, ensuring that critical information is centralized and there is 100% transparency around what it takes to move deals forward. This starts even before making contact with a customer. For example, understanding customers’ fleet structure, leasing affinity, and existing lease expirations can save lessors time by narrowing down their best prospects for aircraft and making sure deal team members are in the information flow in real time.

Quickly match assets

In aircraft leasing, customer requirements are often bespoke. While engines may be more uniform than aircraft, there are still considerations of thrust settings and remaining green time, among other aspects. This puts lessors in the necessary position of finding a match within their asset portfolio or analyzing the feasibility and cost of modifying an existing asset to meet the needs of the deal, which is a time-consuming process. Having a deep understanding of the assets in the portfolio, including specific characteristics and availability, provides key insights to lessors’ teams. 

LeaseWorks has a widget that lets lessors select any aircraft variant in their fleet and  then generate a chart that shows the degree of match with each of the world’s airlines. This allows lessors to quickly visualize the “magic quadrant,” where the degree of match is strong and the share of leased aircraft in customers’ fleets is high. Additionally, the analytics help lessors find white space opportunities (airlines where that aircraft is not currently marketed, but could be good homes for them). 

On the flip side, lessors may be starting with the customer requirements and trying to find the closest fit within their fleet. LeaseWorks’ asset finder lets lessors search their fleet, or even the global fleet, for available aircraft that can be modified or even purchased to meet the need. 

Streamline process and approvals

Approvals are simply a series of check boxes that all required information has been gathered. Often an approver is tasked with making sure that “all the boxes have been ticked” but has to chase many people in different departments to ensure information integrity before approving a transaction or LOI. By eliminating the time wasted with incomplete requests, managers and executives can save valuable time and costs. 

Digitizing and automating the sales process spawns the possibility of streamlined approvals

When “ticking the boxes” digitally, lessors can let their systems ensure information integrity and approve or deny a request, and send out notifications before a human can even finish reading an email subject line. It can also verify that numbers are within a prescribed range, that assets in the deal are available, and even calculate projected revenue or profit. Many LeaseWorks customers have built these “validations” into their implementations. One customer has every single phase of their deal process ending in a validation that allows the user to move the deal along to the next step or sends them back to flesh out the details.  

Digitizing the sales process also provides an opportunity for automated alerts whenever action is required from any team member, including management. With LeaseWorks, lessors’ teams can send alerts by email, through the mobile app, within the desktop app, or through Slack. 

Management dashboards are another aspect of enhancing lessors’ digital process. They provide a real time overview of what needs to be done in the near term, and what is critically late. Dashboards offer on-demand visibility and insight. Instead of waiting for weekly meetings or monthly reports, they deliver up-to-date information to instantly track progress and changes in operations.

Dashboards save time and resources. Immediate access to information allows lessors to make swift decisions and take prompt actions. They let lessors’ teams monitor portfolio performance in real-time, and help them track progress, meet goals, and quickly detect portfolio performance issues. 

Time. Kills. Deals.

In the competitive world of aircraft leasing, time is a critical factor that can help you win deals. Streamlining deal requirements gathering, matching assets, and navigating the approval processes can all significantly improve the success of a transaction. Leveraging advanced tools and integrated data sources, such as AerisMATCH from LeaseWorks, can streamline these processes, providing lessors with the agility and efficiency needed to stay ahead of the competition.

By automating routine checks and validations, lessors can reduce bottlenecks and ensure that deals progress smoothly and quickly. Understanding the importance of timely actions and utilizing the right tools can help mitigate the risks associated with delays, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes.

In the end, the ability to act swiftly and decisively can set successful lessors apart in the market. By embracing digital transformation and data integration, lessors can improve decision-making and help win deals faster in the market. Remember, in this fast-paced industry, time really does kill deals—so make every second count.

LeaseWorks and Portside Join Forces

Acquisition to Create Enterprise Software Powerhouse Serving Clients in Aviation 

Stamford, Connecticut – August 15, 2024 – LeaseWorks®, a leading provider of innovative software and digital solutions for the aviation industry, announced that it had been acquired by Portside, a leading innovator in technology and software solutions for business and government aviation.

The acquisition extends Portside’s suite of integrated, cloud-based software solutions for business aviation operators with LeaseWorks’ cloud-based products and services, including the Aeris^TM suite of software solutions, designed specifically for aircraft lessors and airlines. The transaction also signifies Portside’s first venture into the aircraft leasing space. 

“Portside shares LeaseWorks’ vision for the aircraft leasing market – to build a software company of scale that will be a transformational force in the industry,” commented Haseem Vazhayil, LeaseWorks CEO. “With Portside’s investment, we’ll be able to further enhance our market-leading position as an enterprise software powerhouse, meeting the diverse needs of clients across the full spectrum of the aviation community.”

”LeaseWorks’ cutting-edge technologies and best-in-class customer service for aircraft lessors significantly advances our goal of providing a single system of record to aircraft owners and operators,” said Alek Vernitsky, Portside CEO. “Our customers’ view of profitability will be greatly enhanced with the full visibility of aircraft lifecycle management, and we are excited to have LeaseWorks in the Portside family.”

Portside is backed by Vista Equity and Insight Venture Partners, two preeminent U.S. private equity firms that specialize in software investing. The backing of these institutions is expected to generate significant opportunities to scale LeaseWorks’ business, enabling both organic and inorganic investments as well as benefiting the company’s operations through the added expertise and support from Portside.

“This transaction is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and trust our team has been privileged to bring over the years to both our customers and the industry. Together with Portside, we will continue to deliver the utmost dedication, unmatched expertise, and highest quality of service to our customers, while leveraging growth opportunities to scale mutual operations,” concluded Vazhayil. 

About Portside

Portside, Inc. is a premier provider of modern software solutions for the aviation industry. Portside’s cloud-based suite of products is designed to support all aspects of flight operations, including scheduling and record keeping (Avianis, Takeflite, BART and PFM product lines), safety management (Baldwin), fleet and crew optimization (Portside Optimizer), data sharing, reporting and analytics (Portside Owner Portal / Budget & Planning Dashboard), crew recruiting (Staffing Marketplace), and trip planning (Portside Trip Assist). Portside supports over 1,000 customers in 40+ countries, including passenger and cargo airlines, aircraft lessors, operators of business aircraft and helicopters, medevac, industrial and government fleets, as well as fractional ownership programs. www.portside.aero

Mamoun Kuzbari

Expanding the LeaseWorks relationship accelerated and streamlined the digital transformation initiative effort at Novus and streamlined the decision-making process across the technical, contracts, finance and commercial teams.

David Moreno

The LeaseWorks MRO collaboration product has made shop visit management efficient and transparent by streamlining communication with our MRO partners.

Donna Marie O’Neill

With LeaseWorks, we now have the ability to automate our invoicing and generate on-demand management reports without manual processes.

LeaseWorks Signs BBAM as First Customer for Newly Launched Utilization Tracker

Analytics Product Provides Critical Support for Lessors in Managing Utilization Data and Compliance Risks

LeaseWorks®, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, announced the signing of BBAM, one of the world’s leading aircraft lessors, with more than $15 billion in aviation assets under management, as its first customer for the recently launched LeaseWorks Utilization Tracker within the Aeris™MATCH software ecosystem.

“We are delighted to expand our long term relationship with BBAM with the roll out of the Utilization Tracker module. Analyzing up-to-date utilization information is central to BBAM’s ongoing ability to effectively manage their growing aircraft portfolio”, says Haseem Vazhayil, CEO at LeaseWorks.

With the advanced analytics platform and the ability to integrate with other LeaseWorks products easily and cost-effectively, the Utilization Tracker facilitates the collection of utilization data for BBAM’s global airline customers and asset groups.

“As a long-time customer, BBAM has been impressed with the functionalities of LeaseWorks new Utilization Tracker product. While there are similar offerings in the marketplace, we have found that this product has the differentiated ability to seamlessly integrate into our existing LeaseWorks platform, delivering operating efficiencies,” explains Vincent Cannon BBAM’s General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer.

The LeaseWorks team also calibrated the Utilization Tracker with BBAM’s fleet data to demonstrate the product’s capacity to identify specific aircraft that were non-compliant. “Given BBAM’s need to automate the monitoring of no-fly zones and alerting around this, we are happy to give their compliance teams new tools to make timely decisions about their fleet’s operations,” adds Vazhayil.

The Utilization Tracker provides monthly hours, cycles, and airport movements data for the globalfleet, enabling analytics across any lessor’s portfolio, airline’s fleet, or individually about any aircraft in the world. Lessors can leverage the powerful capabilities of this product with critical insights into their own fleets and portfolios, including:

Mitigating Compliance Risks:
Up-to-date data on aircraft movements enables lessors to track and ensure compliance. By avoiding prohibited jurisdictions or regions, lessors mitigate the risk of regulatory mishaps.

Up-to-date Monitoring and Mobility:
The Utilization Tracker provides lessors with up-to-date utilization data, which is accessible through an intuitive platform and mobile app, allowing users to monitor their fleet, access analytics, and make informed decisions on the go.

Tailored Marketing Strategies:
Understanding the fleet’s usage and utilization patterns is key to successful marketing efforts. The Utilization Tracker enables leasing professionals to tailor marketing strategies to specific airlines based on their utilization needs, maximizing the chances of successful partnerships.

Proactive Maintenance Planning:
Identifying underreported aircraft utilization is essential for maintenance planning. The Utilization Tracker helps lessors pinpoint potential underreporting by the airlines, ensuring accurate estimation of maintenance needs, end-of-lease adjustments, and maintenance reserves. This proactive approach optimizes operational efficiency and minimizes unexpected costs.

About BBAM

BBAM is one of the world’s largest and longest standing aircraft lessors providing over 100 airline customers in more than 50 countries with fleet and financing solutions, and the only significant manager in its sector focused exclusively on generating investment returns on third party capital. With more than 450 aircraft under management, BBAM employs over 140 professionals globally with offices in Dallas, San Francisco, Puerto Rico, Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich, and Dublin. BBAM is a full-service lessor and maintains its own in-house capabilities encompassing aircraft origination, disposition, lease marketing, technical maintenance, regulatory compliance, capital markets activity, tax structuring, legal, contracts and finance, for all asset types and strategies. www.bbam.com

LeaseWorks Launches Tracker to Aid Lessors in Collecting and Analyzing Utilization Data

Advanced Analytics Tool Provides Critical Insights into Leased Aircraft Usage to Optimize Operations and Maximize Revenue

Stamford, Connecticut – April 18, 2023 – LeaseWorks®, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, announced the launch of a new tool, LeaseWorks Utilization Tracker within the Aeris MATCH™ software ecosystem, which aids aircraft leasing companies in collecting and analyzing critical aircraft utilization data from their airline customers.

Obtaining and storing accurate data on the utilization of leased aircraft is fundamental to lessors’ ongoing ability to effectively manage aircraft portfolios and optimize leasing operations. Collecting and analyzing such data can be a daunting challenge, particularly in a highly dynamic industry, where lessors and investors are sensitive to accurate reporting on how and where they are flown.

“One of the primary areas that lessors could benefit from is more timely data from airline customers on their aircraft utilization,” explains Juan Blanco, Senior Advisor, Customer Solutions, Architecture and Technology at LeaseWorks. “Collecting and analyzing data has previously been a manual and time-consuming process, yet this information is becoming increasingly important in a highly dynamic industry, where lessor risk can be impacted by jurisdictional and operational considerations.”

LeaseWorks Utilization Tracker is designed to facilitate the collection of utilization records from airlines across many regions and asset groups. With the advanced analytics platform, lessors can monitor and audit airline utilization reports, compare aircraft usage to fleet and regional trends and track aircraft movements by country or cities to ensure compliance.

“The LeaseWorks team has collaborated with clients to develop and calibrate this bespoke product, so it meets the specific needs of the aviation finance industry, boosting lessors’ ability to make informed and timely decisions about their fleets and portfolios,” adds Blanco.

In addition to providing insights into leased fleet usage to tailor lessors’ marketing efforts to specific airlines based on aircraft utilization, the tool helps companies identify underreporting that may impact maintenance, estimated end-of-lease adjustments and maintenance reserves.

“LeaseWorks Utilization Tracker is an essential tool for lessors, with an easy-to-use interface and mobile app, enabling lessors’ commercial and asset management teams to access analytics wherever they are and stay informed on the go,” concludes Blanco.

To preview this new tool and other product developments and module enhancements within LeaseWorks’ Aeris MATCH™ product portfolio, join the next Product Release Webcast on April 27, 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern (16:00 Dublin time).

LeaseWorks Receives SOC 1 Type II Attestation, Validating Robust Operating Controls

Gold-Standard Audit Affirms Cloud-based SaaS Provider’s Continued Commitment to Lessor and Airline Customers’ Information Security

SAN DIEGO – March 7, 2023 – LeaseWorks®, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, announced at the ISTAT Americas conference that the company completed its SOC 1 Type II audit for 2022. This third-party assessment validates that LeaseWorks has the proper internal controls and processes in place to deliver high-quality services to its aviation clients.

“Maintaining effective controls across all services we provide is top priority at LeaseWorks,” says Juan Blanco, Senior Advisor, Customer Solutions, Architecture and Technology at LeaseWorks. “We are continually focused on ensuring that our policies and procedures, especially around information security, are based on the industry’s best-in-class practices. This attestation is a testament to our team’s continued commitment to protecting customers’ data.”

The SOC 1 Type II audit was conducted by A-LIGN ASSURANCE, a licensed certified public accounting firm, involving a comprehensive review of all operational controls as well as policies and procedures over a period of twelve months in compliance with the SSAE 18 auditing standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”).

“Our customers rely upon us to protect their sensitive data in adherence to the highest standards of information security and compliance,” notes Haseem Vazhayil, CEO, LeaseWorks. “This third-party opinion validates the controls required by our customers and the tests we perform on an ongoing basis to provide assurance regarding the managed solutions provided by LeaseWorks.”

LeaseWorks Expands Product Advisory Board

Well-Regarded Experts in Aircraft Leasing and Technology Supercharge Firm’s Innovations and Best Practices to Deliver World-Class Solutions

DUBLIN – January 17, 2023 – As the global aviation finance community once again gathers in Dublin, Ireland, for the industry’s flagship conferences, LeaseWorks®, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, is excited to unveil new appointments to its Advisory Board and a series of enhancements to its market-leading suite of software solutions.

As part of the firm’s continuing focus on advancing aircraft lessors’ agility and innovation, four well-regarded experts have joined to make industry-leading insights available to the LeaseWorks community. The most recent additions to the Product Advisory Board include:Andy Mansell, Partner at Split Rock AviationJonathan Lang, Managing Principal, Merritt Brook Inc.Karen Curtis, Principal, Sinoia Group LLCPaul Mason, Principal Advisor, Archway Aviation

“At LeaseWorks, we firmly believe in the power of giving lessors access to the innovations and best practices so they can stay competitive, responsive and fast-to-market,” said Haseem Vazhayil, CEO, LeaseWorks. “Our Product Advisory Board has been a core element of that strategy and we’re pleased to welcome these distinguished advisory board members, whose stellar expertise and insights will help us bring to market simple, ground-breaking solutions, delivering the unmatched value our clients can’t find anywhere else when it comes to digital transformation.”

Andy Mansell is accomplished chief commercial officer with extensive experience in developing, implementing and executing strategies for aircraft trading and leasing, with a focus on both yield and residual value management. Prior to joining Split Rock and advising lessors, airlines and investors, Andy had thirty years of experience in the aircraft leasing industry, most of which he spent at Aviation Capital Group (“ACG”) in senior positions. Andy is well regarded as a strategic thinker and has extensive experience in all facets of the aircraft leasing business, including the development of corporate strategy, origination of transactions and execution, management of OEM and airline relationships, the development and implementation of aircraft pricing, placement and residual asset value management strategies.

Jonathan Lang is known for developing and executing transformative technology strategies that are key business enablers while maintaining stable core technology operations with robust operating controls and risk management functions. Throughout a career that has spanned firms from large hedge funds with a range of investments to both pre-IPO and publicly listed firms that include Colony Capital, Aircastle Limited and Paloma Partners, he has developed technology and managed teams to help drive business value while maintaining a robust operating platform.

Karen Curtis has served in a variety of entrepreneurial, senior managerial and consulting capacities responsible for defining the vision for Enterprise Architecture (EA) and managing its capabilities at large and mid-sized companies in the aviation finance, publishing and telecommunications sectors. With deep expertise in post-merger integrations, building EA teams from the ground up and aligning IT and business strategy, her strength lies in enhancing efficiency and productivity through improving existing systems and developing enterprise-wide software solutions. Karen has also founded multiple start-up ventures, including technology consulting and the production, marketing and distribution of Hawaiian coffee.

Paul Mason has served in several senior and executive roles spanning many specialties, from engineering and technical developments, commercial and airline and airport operations to aircraft leasing and financial services. Currently, he serves as Principal Advisor at Archway Aviation, a private equity funded global aircraft lessor, leading initiatives to significantly increase the value of the firm’s aviation portfolio. Previously, he was Deputy to the Head of Commercial Worldwide and VP Commercial Operations at Airbus SAS and eventually led Airbus’ North American operations. Paul was involved in the evolution of analog to fly-by-wire aircraft developed by Airbus, the digitalization of all-cockpit displays and flight controls, as well as the early development of autopilot enabling aircraft’s autonomous operation from ground-to-altitude and altitude-to-ground.

In addition to the new board appointments, LeaseWorks announced the roll-out of a series of enhancements to its product suite, including:

• Subsequent Events Projection: Lessors can obtain further insights by projecting subsequent maintenance events up to the end-of-life of the asset.
• Letter of Credit History of Updates: Lessors can track the detailed history of Letter of Credit drawdowns and adjustments, improving the results of their audits.
• Forecasting Performance Enhancements: A faster forecast calculation engine enhances lessors’ decision-making processes.
• Flexible and Brandable Portal: Lessors can create a self-service experience for airline customers, customizing the portal’s interface to be in line with their brand and needs.
• Tableau and Power BI Embedded Dashboards: Lessors now have a one-stop shop for all their data needs, with the ability to dissect data and visualize it with customized dashboards using the Salesforce reports, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau CRM.
• Journal Entry Export to ERP with API Functionality: Lessors can integrate the LeaseWorks software with their ERP using API, which eliminates manual upload and reconciliations between separate lessor management and ERP systems, significantly reducing data processing times and eliminating human error.
• Airline Bulk Invoicing: Lessors can filter and fetch rent slips for bulk invoice creation, select invoices for bulk approval, generate PDF documents for the selected invoices, review the generated documents and send the approved invoices to airline customers.

“With the goal of helping lessors to stay ahead of technological and industry disruptions, the LeaseWorks team is continually collaborating with members of our Advisory Board in conjunction with ongoing input from existing and prospective customers to enhance the functionalities and user experience our best-in-breed product provides,” added Vazhayil.

Join LeaseWorks for the next edition of Product Release Webcast on February 23, 2023, 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern / 16:00 Dublin time, to preview new product developments and module enhancements within our existing product portfolio, including CRM, Technical, Contracts and Finance. Sign up for the webcast by emailing: [email protected].