The owner-managed Dr. Peters Group, through its subsidiary DS Aviation GmbH, has succeeded in concluding extensions of the leasing contracts with the airline Emirates for the Airbus A380 aircraft of two aircraft mutual funds. The funds are the investment offers Flight Invest 50 and Flight Invest 51, which were launched in 2012 and 2014. At the same time, DS Aviation GmbH successfully continued its efforts to sell further parts of the Airbus A380 from the Flight Invest 49 fund, which was launched in 2010. For investors in the three funds that the Dr. Peters Group acquired from Corestate subsidiary Hannover Leasing at the end of 2021, total cash flows of 125% to 150% are thus emerging, which can be seen as consistently positive in view of the uncertainties and challenges surrounding the A380.
Thanks to DS Aviation’s very good contacts with the airline Emirates, both sides agreed in recent weeks to extend the leasing contracts for the two aircraft of the Flight Invest 50 and 51 funds by five years each until December 2030 and August 2031, respectively. Investors in the Flight Invest 50 received a payout of 16.8% as a result of the contract extension in December 2025. For the investors of Flight Invest 51, a payout of 15% was made in the summer of 2025. A further payment of 12% has been made against the backdrop of the extension in the middle of this month.
Emirates secures purchase option for the aircraft of the Flight Invest 50 and 51 funds
In addition to the extension of the leasing contracts, the Dr. Peters subsidiary agreed purchase options with Emirates at the end of the respective extension period. This means that there is a real chance of a successful sale of the two aircraft.
Meanwhile, the Flight Invest 49 fund is about to be successfully concluded. The fund’s Airbus A380 had been in service with Singapore Airlines since 2010. A good year and a half after the fund was taken over by the Dr. Peters Group, the investors of Flight Invest 49 decided to take back the machine that the lessee had parked in Alice Springs, Australia, since the Corona pandemic. In the course of the return delivery, Singapore Airlines paid the leasing instalments owed until the expiry of the leasing contract at the end of August 2025 in one sum. The fund then sold the aircraft’s engines to Singapore Airlines. As a result, a large part of the aircraft’s value has already been converted into payable liquidity in 2023.
Investors in Flight Invest 49 are expected to achieve overall success of over 140%
At the end of 2025, thanks to intensive efforts by DS Aviation, it was also possible to sell the remaining aircraft parts to an Australian company. This sale eliminates both the costs for the further storage of the removed components and the ongoing fund costs that would have been incurred in the event of a multi-year individual sale of parts over the next few years. After handing over the aircraft parts and paying the purchase price, the fund investors received a payout of 4% as early as the end of 2025. The payment of a further 4% is planned for summer 2026. This means that the total cash return for the shareholders after completion of the liquidation is expected to be over 140%.
The Managing Partner of the Dr. Peters Group, Kristina Salamon, comments: “Thanks to the highly professional work of our experienced asset managers at DS Aviation, we have succeeded in leading all three A380 funds that we acquired at the end of 2021 to the best possible success. We are very pleased that we will also achieve positive results for investors in the Flight Invest 50 and 51 funds after Flight Invest 49.”
