Qatar Airways taps Japanese investors for the first time to finance three Boeing 787-9s

Qatar Airways is bringing Japanese investors into its fleet financing for the first time. The carrier has signed its first Japanese Operating Lease with Call Option (JOLCO) agreement to finance three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, according to its press release. The agreement is the first of three planned transactions covering seven aircraft in total, but it did not disclose the financing value or lease terms.

HSBC is lending, while a Japanese lessor brings in the equity. HSBC is the sole lender and debt arranger. Japan’s JP Lease Products & Services (JLPS) is underwriting and arranging the equity for this transaction and for the two that follow.

Under a JOLCO, Japanese investors fund the jet and the airline keeps the right to buy it. The structure pairs equity from Japanese corporate investors, who get tax benefits from the arrangement, with non-recourse bank debt. That gives the airline 100% financing at lease rates JLPS describes as competitive. The airline leases the jet and holds an option to buy it at a price fixed upfront, either during the lease or at its end.

Qatar Airways has a lot of jets to pay for: It placed a USD 96 bn order with Boeing in May 2025 for 160 widebody jets, with options for another 50. It also secured a QAR 4.5 bn loan from a QNB-led banking consortium in June 2025, and a sale-and-leaseback in July, when BOC Aviation bought three Airbus A350-1000s and leased them back to the carrier.

It’s widening its funding sources from a solid base. Qatar Airways booked QAR 7.1 bn in net income in FY 2025/26, down from QAR 7.9 bn the year before, and held QAR 32.7 bn in liquid funds, money-market funds, and short-term deposits at the end of March, against QAR 42.4 bn a year earlier, according to its financial release (pdf).

Emirates has used the Japanese market for years. It raised more than AED 28 bn through JOLCO agreements between 2014 and 2019 and tapped HSBC to finance six of its A350-900 aircraft.

Asian capital is also backing Gulf aviation more broadly: Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) is seeking a seven-year, USD 2.1 bn working-capital loan, largely from Asian banks, arranged by Emirates NBD, Bank of China, OCBC, and China Construction Bank Asia.