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Aviation

The aviation sector is global and highly regulated, characterised by significant investments and rapid market changes. Industry participants face complex legal issues – from aircraft financing and leasing to regulatory requirements, safety, licences and disputes.

Relevant experience

  • Financing: Assistance in 2025/2026 as special Norwegian counsel to the investors in CHC Group LLC's USD 550 million senior secured notes due 2030.
  • Helicopter leasing: Assistance in 2025/2026 to Milestone Aviation Group in connection with the leasing of newbuild helicopters from Leonardo to Equinor Energy AS with Lufttransport RW AS as operator
  • Helicopter leasing: Assistance Milestone Aviation Group i connection with the leasing of helicopters to Bristow, CHC and Lufttransport
  • Helicopter loss: Assistance to the insurers following grounding and total loss of a helicopter
  • Cargo damage: Assistance to the air carrier and the insurers in connection with cargo damage claims
  • Passenger injury during air transport: Assistance to the air carrier and the insurers in connection with personal injury and claim for damages. The air carrier and the insurers were held not liable. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court not granted
  • Aircraft fire: Assistance to the air carrier and the insurers following a fire on board an aircraft and claim for damages from a number of claimants

We advise airlines, helicopter operators, lessors, banks, financial institutions and insurance companies. Our guidance combines regulatory insight with commercial and technical understanding, covering both ongoing operations and major cross-border transactions. We also advise suppliers to the aviation industry.

Thommessen has extensive experience from key projects in financing, leasing, transactions, regulatory assessments, negotiations, restructuring and dispute resolution. Many of these matters have been decisive for our clients' operations and strategic decisions.

Our team is multidisciplinary, combining aviation expertise with specialist competence in finance, contract, M&A, disputes, tax, competition and EU/EEA law. This enables practical advice where both technical precision and commercial understanding are required.

We assist, among other things, with

Financing, leasing and transactions

  • Aircraft financing and refinancing, including loan agreements, syndications and security packages, as well as legal opinions
  • Aircraft leasing, including contractual structures and regulatory requirements
  • Sale and purchase of aircraft and helicopters
  • Registration and security interests for aircraft in Norway - end-to-end support through the entire process
  • Transactions and corporate processes

Regulatory matters and interaction with authorities

We have extensive experience working with the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority on numerous aviation transactions.

  • Concessions, operator licences and other regulatory approvals
  • Regulations relating to safety, operations and technical requirements
  • EU and EEA law, including state aid and competition rules
  • Ownership and control requirements, traffic rights and structuring of international operations

Disputes and insurance

  • Disputes relating to commercial contracts and licence or concession matters
  • Leasing disputes, defaults and residual value issues
  • Damages, insurance and liability in connection with operational disruptions
  • Cargo claims
  • Passenger claims relating to baggage and personal injury

Restructuring and distressed situations

  • Advice to lenders, investors, debtors and contractual parties in restructuring processes
  • Negotiations with financing partners, suppliers and other key stakeholders
  • Assessment of regulatory and operational consequences

The team