Airfinance Journal today publishes the shortlist for the 2016 Deals of the Year and the winners of its individual and team awards.

Now in its 21st year, the awards are an essential calendar fixture for airlines and the global aviation finance sector.  

Each year Airfinance Journal shines a spotlight on aviation transactions that standout in terms of innovation, size, timing, pricing and whether the deal created a new market standard.

The shortlist for this prestigious event, which will take place at the New York Marriot Marquis on 17 May, has been compiled after a rigorous judging process. More than a 130 submissions were received for 92 deal categories, comprising 80 unique transactions valued at approximately $50 billion. The submissions were then narrowed down to three deals per category by Airfinance Journal's editorial and data experts.

The Airfinance Journal team also was made available for discussion about the entries with the aviation sector throughout and after the submission process.

The shortlist now has been passed to a judging panel of senior aviation finance executives, including Bertrand Grabowski (former board member and head of aircraft finance at DVB Bank), Jeff Knittel (president CIT Transportation & International Finance) and Norm Liu (former CEO and chairman of GECAS).

There are 10 categories up for grabs and the only winner not chosen by the judges is in the Editor’s Deal of the Year category.

The industry has spoken and voted for the individual and team awards through a publicly available “survey monkey” platform, which was open for submissions throughout the entire month of February.

The 2016 shortlist of the best industry deals:

Bank Loan Deal of the Year

Accipiter $1.2bn 7-year recourse financing of 43 aircraft

LATAM 3-year senior secured facility spares deal

NAC $590m Dual-tranche acquisition facility

Export Credit Deal of the Year

Sun Express Exim-French Lease

Apple Bank Atlas Air GE Engine Upgrade

Avianca SACE/Coface Bond

Tax Lease Deal of the Year‎

CALC Pegasus 2xA321 JOLCO

THY/HSBC French Tax Sparing

Aeromexico JOLCO 1x787

Operating Lease Deal of the Year

IAFC/Saudia operating lease of 30xA320s + 20xA330s

GECAS/Hainan 737-800s

Etihad Goshawk/BBAM PDPs & SLBs

Sale and Leaseback Deal of the Year

Emirates Stellwagen 1x777-300ER

Amedeo Air Four Plus 2xA380 + 2x777-300ER

Etihad Natixis ADGM 2xA380

Equity Deal of the Year

BOC Aviation IPO

CDB Leasing IPO

Floreat Equity Raising

M&A Deal of the Year

Bohai/Avolon acquisition

FedEx/TNT acquisition

NAC Jetscape/Aldus acquisition

Capital Markets Deal of the Year

United 2016-2 EETC

Southwest $300m Unsecured Bond

Blackbird ABS

Innovative Deal of the Year

Emirates EMP Korean E-note

Air Austral Tax Loan

Apple Bank Atlas Air GE Engine Upgrade

Editor's Deal of the Year

Jack Dutton, the editor of AFJ, will choose this award after all other awards are determined.

Overall Deal of the Year

Bohai/Avolon acquisition

BOC Aviation IPO

Labrador (GECAS) ABS

Individual & Team Winners

Winners chosen by industry submissions:

‎Airline Treasury Team of the Year‎

American Airlines

Lessor Treasury Team of the Year

AerCap

Aviation Woman of the Year

Amelia Anderson (American Airlines)

Aviation Young Person of the Year

Ahsan Gulabkhan (Virgin Atlantic)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Tom Budgett (BLP)

Most Improved Airline of the Year

To be determined by data from The Airline Analyst

The judging panel will now determine the winning deal in each category and, if necessary, by vote. Members of the judging panel must recuse themselves from deliberations relating to a category where their current or immediate past employer is short-listed.

In the event the judging panel cannot reach agreement, the panel may call for further information or discussion with AFJ.

A deal can only win one award. All winners will be announced on 3 April. 

To ensure a space or table at the 17 May Deals of the Year Awards, please contact Chris Gardner: chris.gardner@airfinancejournal.com.