Amedeo: with no airlines to take its 20 Airbus A380s on order, the lessor will operate them itself

Lessor and asset management firm Amedeo's order for 20 Airbus A380s is the second biggest outstanding order for the type, and by far the biggest without airline operators identified.

After struggling to secure airline lessees since making the order in 2014, Amedeo has said that it wants to use the aircraft to offer capacity to existing airlines or new disruptive operators, under ACMI/wet lease agreements from 2022. It plans to apply for an air operator's licence in 2018.

Amedeo was originally established in Jun-2013 as Doric Lease Corp by the German leasing company Doric GmbH. It changed its name in Feb-2014 to mark its separation from Doric (where Amedeo's founding managers used to work). Based in Dublin, Amedeo specialises in widebody acquisitions and sale and leaseback transactions. Its particular focus is on Airbus A380 aircraft, but its activities also include A350 and Boeing 777 variants.

Airbus has struggled with new orders for the A380, although another order from Emirates may still be in the near term pipeline. Moreover, for several years Airbus has not widened the customer base beyond a fairly small number of operators. Amedeo has little choice but to try a new approach, but there will be challenges.