Dublin-based carrier ASL has seen an uplift in cargo traffic during the pandemic offset by a hit to its passenger services, according to chief financial officer Mark O’Kelly.
he private equity-owned carrier, which operates aircraft for customers including Amazon, employs about 3,000 people, 300 of them in Ireland.
Mr O’Kelly told a PwC briefing yesterday that the past number of months had been “pretty disastrous” for the overall aviation sector.
“There’s a massive amount of support still required for the industry, not only in Ireland, but globally,” he told the briefing on PwC’s pre-budget submission.
“While a lot of our business is cargo-focused, we have a passenger element which has been devastated,” said Mr O’Kelly.
“Unfortunately, the upside we’ve seen on the cargo has been offset by the passenger side of the business,” he added.
ASL has weathered the Covid storm much better than airlines that focus mainly on passenger services, however.
The carrier group, whose chief executive is Dave Andrew, generated turnover of €1.1bn in 2019 and a €29.9m operating profit.
Until recently, its fleet included just two aircraft operated on behalf of Amazon’s Prime Air. The Irish Independent reported in May that ASL was due to take delivery of five additional aircraft that it will operate for Prime Air.
ASL’s total fleet numbers about 140 aircraft, ranging from a Boeing 747-400 to ATR72 turboprops.
It has operated passenger services for airlines including Aer Lingus, which is part of the IAG group.
ASL was acquired in 2019 by European fund manager Star Capital in a deal likely to have been worth more than €100m. At the time, ASL operated a fleet of 130 aircraft.
Mr O’Kelly said that Ireland needs to ensure it stays ahead of other global aircraft leasing centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
He said the high rate of income tax in Ireland continues to be a “significant barrier” to retaining the experienced executives needed for the aviation industry.
“if you want to retain jobs and try get the economy back up, we need to ensure that we’re retaining not only the general workforce, but also the high-end jobs in Ireland,” said Mr O’Kelly.
“We’re running the risk at the moment in the aviation sector of actually losing some of our best knowledge and best skill-sets to other jurisdictions,” he warned.
The ASL executive also said that Ireland’s double taxation treaties are “the envy” of other countries.
“At the same time, we shouldn’t be letting up in expanding that treaty network,” he said, pointing out that treaties should be drafted with countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Colombia. He added that some of the existing double taxation treaties Ireland has should probably be updated.
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