Easy… His company runs a bunch of business jets for rich Russian oligarchs. Obviously nobody wants to have that public… At the end $$$ is what matters
This seems like a witch hunt to me. I am in this industry and am fully aware how this happens.
Rich people worldwide use private jets with many of them owning the asset. These are private people and therefore can not offer commercial services and this is where LA comes in. LA has all the commercial licensing to offer flights for financial rewards to the public.
The aircraft owners place the asset into an SPV company which Mr. Hansen then becomes director of and he in turn inducts the aircraft into the LA fleet to sell as commercial flights. Everyone does it, even our big Jumbo cargo operator here has every single aircraft in an individual company so the “airline” owns nothing and all assets are leased.
Owning an operating a private jet can cost millions per year so using the services of LA reduces the owners outflow.
The financing and loans via via via is common in both commercial and private aviation world wide.
The laundering money claim is laughable because anyone in the industry knows the way to make $1 million dollars in aviation is to start with $10 million.
It’s an interesting article – Hansen does raise a good point though when he notes that ” He said none of his Russian business partners had been sanctioned, and that attitudes in Europe toward Russian investment had been very different in the years before the war in Ukraine.”
With regards to the ultimate beneficial owner register itself, journalists should absolutely have access, but I’m not convinced that the general public needs this information.
3 comments
Easy… His company runs a bunch of business jets for rich Russian oligarchs. Obviously nobody wants to have that public… At the end $$$ is what matters
This seems like a witch hunt to me. I am in this industry and am fully aware how this happens.
Rich people worldwide use private jets with many of them owning the asset. These are private people and therefore can not offer commercial services and this is where LA comes in. LA has all the commercial licensing to offer flights for financial rewards to the public.
The aircraft owners place the asset into an SPV company which Mr. Hansen then becomes director of and he in turn inducts the aircraft into the LA fleet to sell as commercial flights. Everyone does it, even our big Jumbo cargo operator here has every single aircraft in an individual company so the “airline” owns nothing and all assets are leased.
Owning an operating a private jet can cost millions per year so using the services of LA reduces the owners outflow.
The financing and loans via via via is common in both commercial and private aviation world wide.
The laundering money claim is laughable because anyone in the industry knows the way to make $1 million dollars in aviation is to start with $10 million.
It’s an interesting article – Hansen does raise a good point though when he notes that ” He said none of his Russian business partners had been sanctioned, and that attitudes in Europe toward Russian investment had been very different in the years before the war in Ukraine.”
With regards to the ultimate beneficial owner register itself, journalists should absolutely have access, but I’m not convinced that the general public needs this information.