Two months after writing off nearly $600 million for 19 aircraft stuck in Russia, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has filed a London lawsuit against 11 insurers, including Lloyd’s of London, AIG, Chubb, and Swiss Re.
Fidelis Insurance Ireland, HDI Global Speciality, Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company, Great Lakes Insurance, Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers, Starr Europe Insurance, and Axis Speciality Europe are also named in the High Court claim.
According to a Lloyd’s spokesperson, the insurer is “not at liberty to share information on any specific claim, policy, or policyholder.” Munich Re, AIG, and Swiss Re all declined to comment.
Requests for comment from the other insurers and DAE were not immediately returned.
Lessors, on the other hand, have vowed to pursue insurers after losing control of nearly 400 leased planes worth nearly $10 billion after Western countries sanctioned Russia over the Ukraine conflict and Moscow barred the planes from leaving.
The claim has been lodged in London four months after Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s biggest aircraft lessor, filed a $3.5 billion insurance lawsuit over more than 100 of its jets seized in Russia.
DAE, which said in August that it had written off $576.5 million for its planes, stated in its half-year results statement that it had “no way of determining whether these aircraft will be returned at any point in the future.”
“The group has insurance in respect of the aircraft in question under a number of insurance policies,” it added, “and the group has filed insurance claims to recover amounts due under the policies.”
The specifics of the claim, which was filed last week, are not yet public.