Leasing lessons from ancient history

opinion

by Yves Le Marquand

27 July 2026

e-Smart ordered up to 20 Beta Technologies aircraft in November 2025.

It is a hot, clammy morning on the outskirts of Eridu, Lower Mesopotamia, a stone’s throw from the Euphrates River.

The year is 2,400BC and the rainy season is on the way. A farmer has eked out as much as he can from his ageing oxen over the past year or two. He desperately needs fresh livestock, and ideally a new plough too. There is a metal-tipped, seeder model on the market. It is all the rage, many are investing. But new tech is too expensive for a subsistence farmer like him to afford.

Luckily, the concept of asset finance is emerging. Based on Lipit-Ishtar, one of the earliest known legal codes, these lease arrangements are not simply informal handshake deals. Recorded on cuneiform clay tablets, the code established detailed penalties for damaging leased oxen and specified the responsibilities of both lessors and lessees. This kept working capital free for farmers while giving access to the equipment required to operate.

Fast-forward 4,000 or so years and the idea holds.

Startup airline e-Smart Group has signed an agreement with new aerospace asset financier SLI to lease up to 20 Beta Technologies all-electric aircraft. e-Smart had originally signed directly with Beta in November 2025. The new agreement converts that commitment to an operating lease model, “shifting the acquisition from capital to operating expenditure”, Praveen Vetrivel, CEO, SLI tells Aircraft Investor.

The deal, which includes Beta’s conventional take-off CX300 and vertical take-off variant A250, will see SLI take ownership of the assets and e-Smart lease them through fixed monthly payments.

According to Denis Ilin, CEO, e-Smart the direct agreement with Beta secured access to early delivery slots in 2027-2028. “Which we will benefit from via a lease agreement as much as through direct relations with the OEM,” he tells us.

“However, the partnership with SLI will significantly reduce our capital requirements and allow us to invest more into our core business – the airline operations, product and route network development and customer relations.”

e-Smart plans various use cases for the aircraft, including AOG spare parts delivery on a charter basis, scheduled services between regional hubs for e-commerce and scheduled air logistics in the areas with challenging landscape or environmental restrictions – “like the 200km ban for air cargo services in France,” says Ilin.

‘Historic insights’

Libra Group subsidiary SLI is a first-mover of providing asset financing solutions for advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft. The company holds orders for up to 190 electric aircraft and autonomous drones.

“Our modelling is based on our historic insights into newer fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft that our group has directly experienced,” says Vetrivel.

“Of course, the adoption of a new propulsion technology requires careful consideration around issues like life cycle and value curves for batteries relative to engines. All the usual provisions and protections familiar to aviation leasing gives us the necessary safeguards. But it is worth emphasising that the burden of risk rests with us as the lessor, as is appropriate.”

Vetrivel says that SLI is not in a hurry. “All parties, whether OEMs, lessors or operators, are bound by the regulatory process,” he explains. “Thus, everyone in the electric aircraft space is taking a long-term view of the market and planning for future revenues.”

Max Yergan, senior vice president, Investments at SLI adds: “Just as important as the toolkit are the relationships: the appraisers and aviation-data houses, the banks, the equity co-investors, the insurers, the legal teams. We’ve spent a decade or two cultivating those, and they’re the foundation we’re using to bring leasing into these new aircraft types.”

‘Staying honest’

Mechanically, SLI takes a view of the expected useful life of the asset and structures the transaction to fit within that profile. “[We do that] while staying honest about the fact that there’s real uncertainty around both the asset itself and how operators will use it,” says Yergan.

The new variable is the battery. “A battery has never been a factor in these leases before. What’s it worth? How does it hold value? How long can it stay on the aircraft? How do you account for replacement cycles and charging?” asks Yergan.

The flip side for SLI is that designs such as Beta’s are reportedly simpler than conventional aircraft. “They’re more modular, with far fewer parts. BETA’s whole aircraft probably has fewer parts than a single engine on a conventional fixed-wing. So when we underwrite, we look for that simplicity in the design,” Yergan explains.

Capitalisation first

Capitalisation is one of the first things SLI underwrites. “Certification is expensive. If you run out of money along the way, you don’t reach the finish line… We look for management teams that can take a programme from idea to entry-into-service and beyond; and we look for companies capitalised well enough to actually get there,” he says.

Lessors and lessees in Mesopotamia also had to take risk into account. Could the metal-tipped plough be trusted? Was a seeding funnel a necessary addition? Both proved revolutionary, leading to a few centuries of intense farming, which over salinated the soil and coincided with the decline of Mesopotamian civilisations.

Today, although much iterated, the plough is still an essential farming tool. SLI predicts similar will be true of electric aircraft. But there will be a learning curve along the way.