Carlyle Aviation Partners hires new managing director

Carlyle Aviation Partners has added another co-pilot to its cockpit.

The Miami-based firm said on Tuesday that Edward “Ted” O’Byrne joined as a managing director and co-head of aviation this month, taking on a senior role in the firm’s aircraft leasing and financing ventures.

O’Byrne was previously the chief investment officer in charge of portfolio management, aircraft leasing and original equipment manufacturer relations for AerCap Holdings for more than 11 years. Prior to that, he held various positions at Netherlands-headquartered aerospace company Airbus, including sales contract director and airline marketing manager, according to his LinkedIn profile.

O’Byrne joins Carlyle Aviation, which declined to comment, just weeks after the Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Apollo Aviation officially closed on 19 December, ahead of schedule (Apollo Aviation has no relation to alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management).

The new portfolio, renamed Carlyle Aviation Partners, is part of Carlyle Global Credit, the firm’s credit arm. Private Debt Investor previously reported that the transaction was part of an effort to expand the firm’s credit strategy further into commercial aviation. Apollo Aviation was launched in 2003 and currently owns 246 commercial aircraft.

The firm expects that this acquisition will add more than $10 million in fee-related earnings in its first year, Kewsong Lee, the co-chief executive officer and chairman of the executive group at Carlyle, said on the firm’s third-quarter earnings call.

Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group is not the only alternative asset management behemoth to add aircraft leasing operations. Last week, KKR announced that it acquired 50 percent of aircraft asset manager Altavair, formed in 2003 as a joint venture between the management team and Guggenheim Partners. New York-based KKR is also making the investment via its credit group.

Carlyle Aviation has $5.6 billion in assets under management.