Editor's note

Welcome to our November edition!

This edition was scheduled to appear on the eve of our yearly conference and awards event which many of you will recall took place face-to-face in Barcelona two years ago.

Sadly, our conference – which was to take place in Vienna on 2 December – was not sufficiently immunised and has come down with Covid for a second consecutive year. The event organisers tell me it's not terminal as the Conference has been postponed until spring 2022. You won't be surprised to know we took the decision after the Austrian authorities imposed a national lockdown due to rising levels of Covid. 

Nevertheless, our cover feature looks at Austria and how lessors have responded in the first half of 2021 to the business and public health developments in this Alpine nation.

A recent deal between DLL Ireland and the European Investment Bank to provide €80m in green energy transitioning across the emerald isle is the subject of another feature.

We also look at the exit ban on a Dublin aviation lessor, Richard O’Halloran, preventing him from leaving China. The circumstances surrounding the ban should pose serious questions for aviation lessors about doing business in China but also about when it’s necessary to stick up for a fellow professional. Apart from the support from his family and friends, European aviation leasing professionals appear outwardly unconcerned with O’Halloran’s plight despite him not being charged with any offence, in poor health, and facing almost three years unable to join his family.

Alejandro Gonzalez, Editor