Tom Healey helps clients finance aircraft. Recognized as a leader in aviation finance law by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Tom regularly closes aviation deals involving lease novations, junior and senior loans and intercreditor issues, and aircraft fleet orders, and he has won numerous deal-of-the-year awards from aviation industry publications. He has also represented creditors in numerous US airline Chapter 11 proceedings and has restructured financings for many aircraft in airline insolvencies.
Award-winning aviation deals
Tom “understands the dynamics of the business very well,” clients tell Chambers USA. “He is one of the guys that is trying to find ways to overcome challenging situations.” Tom represents financiers on all aspects of workouts for numerous aircraft in airline reorganizations in North and South America. He represents lessors, finance parties, operators and governments on export credit financings and works regularly on pre-delivery payment facilities and asset and credit support agreements. Buyers and sellers of business aircraft and participants in fractional programs seek Tom's counsel on purchase agreements, financing and regulatory compliance.
Tom represented the aircraft manufacturer Embraer on the Chapter 11 proceedings of Republic Airways, including its participation on the unsecured creditors' committee and the restructuring of financings for dozens of aircraft. He also worked on the 2011 Airfinance Journal Regional Jet Deal of the Year involving Aldus Aviation and on the 2003 Airfinance Journal Aircraft Order of the Year with JetBlue Airways. Tom's experience also includes the sale of a portfolio of junior debt secured by 80 aircraft, which was named Airfinance Journal's 2007 Aerospace Deal of the Year.
More Legal and Business Bylines From Tom Healey
- Structuring and Practice for Aircraft Leases to Prevent Lease Payments From Being Clawed Back in a Lessee Bankruptcy - (Posted On Friday, April 09, 2021)
- The Desirability of Registering a New International Interest When Extending the Term of a Lease - (Posted On Friday, March 12, 2021)
- Structuring a PDP Loan to Protect the Lender From an Airline Bankruptcy - (Posted On Friday, February 19, 2021)
- Protecting a Lessor Against the Recharacterization in Bankruptcy of a Full Payout Aircraft Lease as a Disguised Security Agreement - (Posted On Monday, January 11, 2021)
- ADS-B OUT Compliance as Part of Lease Redelivery Conditions - (Posted On Wednesday, November 25, 2020)
- Maximizing Returns Through Effective Management of Engine Performance Restoration: Five Cases - (Posted On Thursday, October 01, 2020)
- Use of Residual-Value Insurance to Support Debt Repayment in Leveraged Aircraft Leases - (Posted On Friday, August 14, 2020)
- Toward a Rational Debt-Equity Framework in Leveraged Aircraft Leases - (Posted On Thursday, July 09, 2020)
- Aircraft Sale Leasebacks in a Disrupted Market: Traditional and New Considerations for Lessors - (Posted On Thursday, May 21, 2020)
- Passenger Airlines and US Treasury Department Reach Agreement on CARES Act Payroll Support Program - (Posted On Friday, April 17, 2020)
Katten is a National Law Review Go-To Thought Leader for the firm’s thought leadership on the Coronavirus pandemic's impact on the aviation industry, specifically the government’s ongoing operation support for the airlines and aviation finance and leases. Katten’s thought leadership in aviation addresses leases and financing and the insurance of aircraft assets during bankruptcies, as well as government regulation and oversight of the aviation industry including the Treasury Department’s payroll support for airline workers and special payments earmarked for the airline industry under the CARES Act. The following Katten attorney authors were notable aviation law contributors in 2020: Lisa A. Clark, Tom Healey, Stewart B. Herman, Timothy J. Lynes, Brett J. Seifarth, and Miran Vila.