BOC Aviation Limited, or BOCA, said that AirBridgeCargo Airlines LLC has flouted demands to return a Boeing 747-8F, even though AirBridge can no longer obtain the reinsurance coverage required to lease the plane. The New York federal court must step in and order the plane's release before AirBridge succeeds in flying it to Moscow, where it has already stashed other BOCA-owned aircraft, BOCA said.
"BOCA is entitled to immediate possession of the aircraft without a hearing and prior to a final determination of BOCA's claims. AirBridge has already expropriated two of BOCA's aircraft to Russia," the company said.
BOCA said the plane was currently stored in the Hong Kong International Airport, which it called "atmospherically" damaging to the aircraft in a separate motion for an ex parte order of immediate possession. The airport is not built for a plane's long-term storage and the plane risks further damage if it's stored there throughout the court proceedings, the company said.
It added that it planned on ferrying the plane to a storage facility in the United States. To get the plane out of Hong Kong, it must present civil aviation authorities with a court order, BOCA said.
For years, AirBridge has leased Boeing 747s from BOCA, a Singaporean aviation company that was bought by the Bank of China in 2006. The leases required AirBridge to maintain the planes' Hull War reinsurance, a condition that AirBridge could no longer meet once the European Union banned insurers from covering aircraft operated by Russian entities, BOCA said.
The revoked reinsurance triggered a default, BOCA said, adding that it immediately ordered AirBridge to ground the planes in China. Instead, AirBridge flew two to Moscow and said it would only return them if BOCA authorized AirBridge to fly the last plane – the one parked in Hong Kong – to Russia, BOCA said.
BOCA slammed AirBridge's maneuvering on Monday, saying the lease agreement gave BOCA broad authority to immediately repossess the airplane in the event of a default. Moreover, in signing the lease, AirBridge "expressly" waived its right to a hearing before repossession, BOCA said.
The company also said it was entitled to an immediate repossession order under the Cape Town Convention, an international treaty standardizing transactions involving movable property.
"BOCA has provided clear evidence of a default by AirBridge, and accordingly, BOCA is entitled to the Advance Remedies requested under the CTC," it said.
--Edited by Peter Rozovsky.
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