A rough seven days for airlines and aircraft ABS

Several aircraft deals took further punishment last week, with Moody's Investors Services doling out downgrades on 23 classes from four separate trusts. The deals were placed on review several months before United Airlines made headlines with its failure to secure federal loan guarantees last week. However, the airline's misfortune does not bode well for aircraft ABS in general.

"The downgrades were more related to the performance of the underlying transactions, but this is another factor that could continue to weaken lease rates in future months," said Moody's managing director Jay Eisbruck.