Hi, I'm planning to start a subsidiary on the Asian continent including a fleet of 747 SPs in Pearls. However, 4 out of the 6 for lease are under 50%. Can I still buy it and operate it or are they effectively unoperable anymore?
Short answer, yes. You can.
Slightly longer answer: the aircraft will undergo maintenance from the end of its delivery flight until the scheduled first flight. But the aircraft condition doesn’t update until the first scheduled flight takes off. This means a few days of poor ratings in the aircraft condition component of your image factor, but that will resolve itself after the maintenance. Lease price seems to take aircraft condition into account along with plane age and type, so a plane in poor condition is usually cheaper than better conditioned planes of a similar make and age. I’ve noticed planes that I cancel a lease on are re-listed for much more after their service with my company.
I did this a few months back. I had a big issue, once a week, 2 flights (one entire return leg) was cancelled because my maintenance providers (I had Halvetic) could not catch up with the maintenance - ever. Just be careful. Maybe keep the schedule a little lighter over the first week.