WORKING WEEK
fiightglobal.com 14-20 February 2017 | Flight International | 43It became clear to Sykes that funding processes were inefficientPart matchmaker, part dealmaker
During his career in aviation finance, Paul Sykes realised that a common stumbling block was bringing
buyers and financiers together. That prompted the idea for FlyFunder, which he likens to a dating appWORK EXPERIENCE PAUL SYKES
and additionally support the
businesses’ credit function.
What do you enjoy most?
In the office, getting FlyFunder off
the ground (excuse the pun) has
been a very fulfilling experience,
but I still love the thrill of closing
a deal. Out of the office, I can be
found on a golf course or watch-
ing my favourite English football
team, Huddersfield Town.
The least?
Covering a large territory and
working for a US company can
mean conference calls at some
strange hours.
What is the biggest challenge
facing aircraft finance?
Availability of financing options
for buyers with smaller aircraft
and in non-standard jurisdic-
tions. Getting financing for a
Gulfstream G650 in the USA
with a decent credit record is
straightforward. Try getting an
appropriately priced solution for
an operator buying a Cessna Car-
avan in Indonesia. Sometimes
these aircraft can provide essen-
tial services for communities but
a lack of financing options means
they are out of reach. It would be
nice to see the oil price go up a
bit too, to help my old friends in
the helicopter industry. nWhat ignited your interest in
aviation?
I was introduced to aviation
through the 2006 Mountbatten
internship I did with RBS Avia-
tion Capital in New York. John
Slattery, who is now chief execu-
tive of Embraer’s commercial air-
craft division, took me under his
wing to help support his sales
team, and I got exposure to com-
mercial aviation and finance for
the first time. I enjoyed the scale
and relevance of the industry,
and met some great characters,
who I still count as friends today.
Tell us about your career to date
I have had a varied career over
the past decade in commercial,
corporate and rotary-wing avia-
tion. I experienced commercial
and corporate jet financing with
sales roles at RBS in Dublin and
London, managed a fleet of
leased aircraft at CHC Helicopter
and looked after a distressed UK
and Nordic portfolio at GE Capi-
tal before moving into my cur-
rent role at AirFinance. We work
as a qualified adviser to the US
Ex-Im Bank, sourcing deals and
conducting due diligence.
Why did you launch FlyFunder?
I have always fancied myself as a
bit of an entrepreneur. My role
involves going out and trying to
find deals in a global niche mar-
ket and I noticed very quickly
that the process of finding fi-
nance as a buyer or financing op-
portunities as a funder was high-
ly inefficient. Given the success
of similar platforms in other mar-
kets – comparison and dating
websites for example – it seemeda no-brainer that a simple, secure
platform would help industry
participants engage with each
other to do business more effi-
ciently. FlyFunder allows those
seeking funding to announce
non-sensitive details – aircraft
type required, deal size and bor-
rower country, for example – and
securely matches them to finan-
ciers who set high-level lending
criteria. Financiers are notified
when deals that meet their crite-
ria are announced and are direct-
ed to the site to connect with
buyers. I pitched the idea to Air-
Finance, who shared my enthusi-
asm, and we set about refining
the business model.
What impact will this have on the
business and general aviation
aircraft finance market?
Manufacturers, brokers, financi-ers and buyers will all benefit
from the increased connectivity,
with buyers finding their best
funding solution by seeing a
range of options. Manufacturers
and brokers source financing
quickly and efficiently for cus-
tomers looking to buy, and finan-
ciers can find opportunities with-
out leaving their desk. In the
same way that we have seen dis-
ruptive technologies change the
way some markets operate (Uber
for taxis, Airbnb for accommoda-
tion and Expedia or Skyscanner
for flights), we believe FlyFunder
will make financing more accessi-
ble for new industry participants.
Tell us about your job
In addition to heading the Fly-
Funder project, I cover helicop-
ters globally and jets/turboprops
in Asia Pacific for AirFinance,BillyPixIf you would like to feature in
Working Week, or you know
someone who does, email
your pitch to kate.sarsfield@
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CUTAWAY ARCHIVE of more than 1000 aircraft drawingscutaway SH.indd 1Untitled-2 1 29/06/2016 15:0805/11/2015 11:17FIN_140217_303.indd 43 09/02/2017 09:33