Newly Qualified Accountant Eager to Work in the Aircraft Leasing Industry?

Ireland is a global leader in Aircraft Leasing. It all started in 1975, when Guinness Peat Aviation(GPA) was established in Shannon and went on to become the world’s largest commercial aircraft lessor in the 1980s.

Fast forward to 2025, and 14 of the Top 15 aircraft lessors are headquartered in Ireland, with Irish lessors owning and managing $150 billion of assets. And yes, these Lessors need newly qualified accountants.

Below, I outline current trends in the Aircraft Leasing market in Dublin and Ireland, as well as Top Tips for Newly Qualified Accountants eager to work in this industry.

Current Trends:

It was noteworthy that the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, mentioned AerCap’s high volume of purchases of Boeing airplanes when he met US President, Donald Trump, on St. Patrick’s weekend.

This, following the continued success of the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Conference in Dublin in January, where thousands of aviation delegates took over Stephen’s Green for four days, has firmly put the industry into the global spotlight.

Furthermore, I attended the ICBE Commercial Aviation Outlook 2025 webinar in March, with the consensus being that current market trends are very positive for Lessors in Ireland.

The key takeaways were twofold –

1. The market is deemed to be back to “pre-COVID rental levels” – approximately 16,000 aircraft are spread amongst circa 180 leasing companies worldwide, and the demand for aircraft is strong, and the pricing of aircraft is relatively strong.
2. “Anything that can fly, is flying,” as there is a “shortage of new aircraft supply, with a long lead time.” Due to this limited supply, 90% of leases on aircraft are now being extended instead of being transitioned. As airlines are finding it difficult to source new aircraft and waiting longer for them to be ready and operational, there is an increasing trend of holding onto older aircraft, which they would have otherwise retired, which is very good for Lessors.

Top Tips – Newly Qualified Accountants:

Typically, you’re going to spend over 90,000 hours of your life in work. By the time you finish your training contract, you’ll have about 7,500 of those hours banked. The decisions you make over the next two years will fundamentally impact the next 82,500 hours… that’s a lot of hours! And if you have an interest in the Aircraft Leasing sector, you need to consider the following Top Tips:

Have you audited Aircraft Leasing clients? If so, mention these in your CV using a client table. If worried about confidentiality, the often-used workaround is to write, for example, ‘Large Aircraft Leasing client, with net assets of circa €x million’. Also, make sure to mention any technical areas you worked on, such as IFRS 16 or Consolidation Reporting on Group Audits.

Barden has a sample Newly Qualified Accountant CV template, illustrating the above – feel free to reach out for a softcopy.

It may be the case that you have not audited Aircraft Leasing clients but really wish to work for a Lessor. What can you do to boost your chances?

Although Lessors generally tend to favour newly qualified accountants who have audited Lessors, there are steps you can take if you have come from a non-Aircraft Leasing audit client base to help bridge that knowledge gap.

For example, lots of newly qualified accountants take a month or two off after their training contracts to unwind, travel, etc. You can use this time to upskill on Aircraft Leasing knowledge – 2 short term courses which I recommend are:

1. John McMahon (Former Chair and CEO of Genesis Lease Limited) carries out a 1-day Aviation Leasing Online Course a couple of times a year – his most recent one was on the 8th of April.
2. City Colleges offer a fully Online Diploma in Aviation Leasing and Finance, over a 12-week period.

Firstly, you need to figure out what type of aircraft leasing company you would like to work in.

For example, would you like to be working in the large companies, such as AerCap and Avolon, or the mid-sized Lessors such as Sky Leasing or smaller Lessors such as White Oak Aviation. To note, a financial accountant/analyst role in a large Lessor will be very different in scope of responsibilities to a similar role in a small Lessor.

Furthermore, you may need to broaden the net and consider Corporate Service Providers, that provide an outsourced accounting function for Lessors. For example, Walkers and Maples. Financial Accountant roles in these companies can be a good stepping stone to ultimately securing a role in a Lessor in 18-24 months’ time, especially if you are coming from a non-Aircraft Leasing audit background.

Also, make sure to listen to podcasts and attend webinars related to Aircraft Leasing in Ireland – the more up-to-date you are on current trends, the more you will impress at interview stage.

There’s no getting away from it. If you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace, build and promote your online presence. As a newly qualified accountant, your LinkedIn profile is your online personal brand.

Make sure to use your summary title (the title under your name) and your profile summary to communicate your skill-set fully. For example, instead of placing ‘Audit Senior’ in your title, what about saying “Audit Senior, Aviation Advisory | Exam-Qualified ACA Accountant – 1st Time Passes” – the more keywords the better.  You have 120 characters so use them!

Be accurate and be conscious that your profile is public – ensure all dates of employment are correct and that your dates mirror those on your CV. The last thing you want is a discrepancy between your CV and LI profile.

Remember that it is a networking tool and could be a main method of building a professional network that will be hugely valuable to you in the future. Make sure to leverage your current network and send connects to those who you have crossed paths with in the past – for example, someone who was your Audit Senior on an Aircraft Leasing job early on in your training contract – and is now 2 years into a Financial Accountant role in a Lessor.

Finally, don’t forget to include a (professional) picture! Not a selfie…definitely, not a selfie.

The above is only the tip of the iceberg in relation to advice to newly qualified accountants looking to make that move to the Aircraft Leasing industry – if curious to find out more, as well as having your draft CV reviewed, getting advice tailored to your own personal situation, having a comprehensive interview preparation session, seeing what roles are available, etc – then, feel free to reach out.

Connect with Niall on LinkedIn or email niall.okeeffe@barden.ie