Greetings from a busy year-end closing office at Scope Aircraft Finance!
Normally, after the clock strikes midnight on December 31, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The busy pendulum swings to a slower pace in the first quarter. That trend changed last year with the anticipation of tax law changes under the incoming Trump administration.
The January slowdown we’re accustomed to didn’t occur, as several transactions were delayed into January fundings to take advantage of anticipated tax opportunities in 2025.
Halfway through December, we’re seeing the same volume trend for the second year in a row. Not only are we pacing for a record December, but we also have a strong January closing pipeline. While we always welcome the opportunity to serve our customers and help with whatever closing timeline they need, this “year-end plus January” closing volume does seem to be a new trend across the industry, and something we’re still adapting to.
This Scope Aircraft Finance article was originally published in The Plane Truth on December 17, 2025.