Following our record growth last year, the team at ACS Leasing have spent the first half of 2025 strengthening our position as the leading provider of aircraft leasing solutions worldwide. We caught up with our Vice President, Dan Parker, to reflect on a strong start to the year and look ahead to market trends for the summer months and beyond.
A strong start to the year
“ACS Leasing had a busier start to 2025 than predicted, with some of our most valued customers seeking our expertise towards the end of the winter season,” says Dan. “An increase in demand for ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) solutions also led to us appointing new personnel to our ever-growing team.
“Adding new faces has increased our presence in the ACMI market, allowing us to expand the bespoke services and tailored support we offer customers around the world,” Dan explains. “Between February and May, our leasing solutions clocked up over 3,000 ad-hoc ACMI block hours across 29 airlines in Europe and Africa.”
Keeping airlines on schedule
Despite many airlines putting contingency plans in place to mitigate the need for leased aircraft in 2025, by April we were experiencing an unprecedented spike in demand. Dan believes overrunning maintenance work is one of the biggest reasons we’ve been kept so busy: “We’ve seen a rise in requests for ACMI leases to cover grounded aircraft, often due to supply chain issues causing delays in sourcing the specialist parts needed for repairs.
“It can cause an airline real problems if one of their planes is out of action for longer than expected, especially during busier periods. That’s where we come in – our short-term ACMI (or ‘wet leasing’) solutions offer the flexibility our customers need to seamlessly supplement their fleets and continue operating with minimal disruption.”
A busy summer and beyond
Dan says things show no signs of slowing down in the second half of the year. “As summer gets underway, airlines are turning to leasing to accommodate the seasonal surge in leisure travel – particularly in Europe, where the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects passenger numbers to increase by 4.3% year-on-year. With our decades of experience and strong industry relationships, we can always find the best solutions for our clients, even during peak periods when aircraft are in high demand.”
Looking ahead, the upward trend is expected to continue beyond 2025. “IATA predicts global passenger numbers will increase by an average of 3.8% annually over the next 20 years. We’re likely to see ACMI leasing play a pivotal role in helping airlines to meet this growing demand by boosting their fleets, adding extra flights, launching new routes and covering maintenance periods”.
