Aviation

Our cross-border team, spanning Africa and the UAE, provides comprehensive legal and business counsel to the aviation sector.

We help clients navigate the industry’s most complex challenges, from aircraft leasing, financing, and transactions to regulatory compliance, route rights, and major infrastructure concessions and disputes.
We focus on delivering pragmatic, decisive solutions that stand the test of time, aligning legal strategy with operational and commercial objectives.

Our Aviation Expertise

Africa’s aviation sector continues to grow rapidly, driven by rising demand, fleet modernisation, and increasing intra-continental connectivity. Despite this momentum, airlines, lessors, financiers, and airport operators still navigate complex regulatory environments, financing constraints, and cross-border operational challenges.
We deliver integrated legal and business aviation expertise across Africa and the UAE, providing seamless, commercially focused advice covering the following sectors: Airlines (legacy, regional, Low Cost Carrier-LCC), lessors, financiers, Maintenance Repair and Operations (MROs), airport companies, ground-handling providers, logistics/freight, tourism groups, and regulators.
Our on-the-ground presence in key jurisdictions enables clients to execute transactions and resolve issues efficiently and decisively.

How We Help in Aviation

Our integrated legal and business aviation services are structured to address every stage of the sector’s lifecycle, ensuring comprehensive support for your operations and investments:

• Aircraft Leasing & Finance: We structure operating and finance leases, sale-leasebacks, and novations, including advising on security packages, export/import, customs, and repossession planning. Critically, we align lease and security documents with local perfection steps and bankable cash-management terms to manage enforcement and FX risk.
• Transactions & Corporate: We handle complex mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for airlines and aviation services, as well as joint ventures, franchising/brand licensing, code-share and interline agreements, and strategic alliances. We also secure the necessary clearances and draft monitoring provisions to ensure compliance with competition law.
• Regulatory & Market Access: We secure essential permissions, including Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) approvals, as well as licensing, ownership, and control tests, and slot and route rights. We assess route plans, prepare filings, and coordinate with local authorities to manage requirements for initiating scheduled services in African and UAE jurisdictions.
• Airports & Infrastructure (PPPs): Our expertise encompasses concession agreements, operations and maintenance (O&M), performance and tariff frameworks, and land/real-estate interfaces. We advise on structuring concessions with clear performance KPIs, termination mechanics, and compliance covenants to ensure bankability.
• Commercial Contracts: We draft, review, and negotiate agreements for ground handling, Global Distribution System (GDS), wet/dry leases, Aircraft-Crew-Maintenance-and-Insurance (ACMI), catering, airport services, fuel, and credit support.
• Employment & Training: We prepare compliant templates and negotiation strategies that cover licensing and rostering rules, cross-border secondments, union engagement, and immigration/work permit requirements for crew and technical specialists.
• Safety, Compliance & ESG: We handle regulatory inspections, incident response, and data/privacy compliance. We also advise on incorporating efficiency and maintenance covenants, green leasing clauses, and reporting undertakings to support your ESG goals.

Dispute Resolution: We manage contentious matters, including lease defaults, maintenance disputes, aircraft damage/insurance claims, procurement and concession disputes, and administrative challenges. For consumer claims and delays, we help establish standard operating procedures and early-resolution pathways to reduce costs and regulatory friction.

Why Clients Choose ALN

• Pan-African reach: coordinated execution across key African and UAE markets with on-the-ground capability.
• Sector fluency: experience acting for airlines, lessors, lenders, and OEMs gives pragmatic solutions to time-critical matters.
• Integrated teams: financing, regulatory, infrastructure, and disputes specialists working as one.
• Cross-border delivery: One coordinated team across multiple ALN jurisdictions, integrating local regulatory nuance with international market practice.