Lloyd's expects insurer settlements on planes stuck in Russia -Irish Independent

DUBLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Lloyd's of London expects insurers will eventually reach a settlement with aircraft lessors over claims made over the loss of hundreds of aircraft stuck in Russia, the commercial insurance market's chairman was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Lessors are suing dozens of insurers for about $8 billion in a string of lawsuits after more than 400 leased planes were unable to leave Russia because of Western sanctions that forced the termination of their leases.

Lloyd's of London is among insurers named in many of the cases, including those taken by the three largest aircraft lessors, AerCap, Avolon and SMBC Aviation Capital.

"I'm sure there will ultimately be a settlement, but we've got to navigate this rather complicated decision tree," Lloyd's Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown told the Irish Independent, referring to the broader cases taken against insurers by lessors.

Lessors have argued that the aircraft are covered by policies against war or theft, while insurers say that the planes are undamaged and could yet be returned.

Carnegie-Brown said that the policies it has with lessors only pay out "in the event that the Russians don't pay their claims" and that there are "still some ongoing conversations to be had about whether those claims are going to be paid by Russian insurance companies".

The newspaper quoted Carnegie-Brown as saying that lessors it insures typically have larger cover under all-risk policies than war-risk policies but that they are trying to make claims under all-risk cover.

"It feels like that issue needs to be resolved sooner rather than later. Once you have a clear path to go down, you can get a clear resolution of claims," he said. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin Editing by David Goodman)