Financial Flexibility

07/06/2022

Leasing ground support equipment has become more and more popular with ground handling companies in order to reduce costs, be flexible and have access to the newest equipment. GSE providers have a plethora of options for customers to preserve their much-needed cash and avoid expensive Capex costs associated with owning an asset outright. TCR offers dry lease and wet lease solutions and has successfully signed many contracts with customers across the globe for different asset classes and solutions. A dry lease is an operating lease model without any services like maintenance and fleet management. It focuses on financing the GSE and transfers the asset risk to a provider like TCR while wet lease solutions add management and maintenance services. “Our most used model globally is full-service rental, which is an operating leasing model in which assets are leased, including fleet management and maintenance services together with various flexibility options,” explained Bruno Vanpoucke, Group Head of Commercial, TCR. “Typically these models are offered as a rate per asset per month when they are rented to a specific end customer. But we also propose a model where the assets are pooled among end-users who are then invoiced on a turnaround basis.” Another option that TCR offers, is refinancing existing assets currently owned by the customer or nearing an end of the lease with another supplier.

“In our wet lease models, we focus on full outsourcing of GSE management which means not only taking care of financing and asset risk related to GSE, but also its management and maintenance. This is is where we enable the customer to focus on their core business and make total cost of ownership savings by having a partner take care of the end-to-end management of the GSE,”

said Vanpoucke.
Since the pandemic, demand for GSE has soared and customers are realising the benefits of flexible leasing solutions. Ground handling companies can raise working capital for other activities such as ramping up operations or funds for mergers and acquisitions in a current buoyant market. “Also, the lack of resources and GSE experts is driving the trend of outsourcing GSE management and their maintenance. Furthermore, the increasing demand for electrifying fleets encourages a different approach to financing and maintaining GSE. This is is why end-users turn to partners that have the experience, allowing them to focus on core activities,” added Vanpoucke.

Ground Handling International June 2022 ISSUE 3 VOLUME 27