AIG, XL & Talbot sued in £68m case for 9 aircraft reinsured in Ukraine
AIG, XL Insurance and Talbot Underwriting will all head to the UK courts to fend off a fresh claim by Ukrainian charter airline Wind Rose Aviation for lost aircraft.
The Ukrainian airline is claiming in excess of £68 million for the total loss of nine aircraft following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The aircraft were originally insured via Ukrainian insurer Universalna, a unit of Canada’s Fairfax, with the three London market names reinsuring the full slate of the contracts.
Primary policies covered a full range of aircraft hull and spares all risks and war risks with total values of over $83 million for a slate of Airbus, Embraer and Hawker craft.
The reinsurance deals include a cut-through clause allowing the insured direct access to the reinsurance payments.
UK court dockets are already overfilled with claims for aircraft following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although the bulk come on claims from lessee owners on aircraft stranded in Russia or appropriated by Russian airlines.
Lessor AerCap led with a $3.5 billion case launched in June 2022 and has more recently stood behind a slew of litigation that appears to target insurers of its Russian lessees. Leasers Avolon, SMBC Aviation Capital, BOC Aviation, CDB Aviation, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), Air Lease Corporation, Shearwater and others have all followed suit.
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