It would be easy to think of the Cayman Islands' aviation industry as the aircraft we see every day: Cayman Airways' Boeing 737 MAX jets carrying passengers overseas and Cayman Airways Express' Saab 340s and Twin Otters connecting the three islands.

But Cayman has another aviation industry that stretches far beyond its shores - encompassing aircraft worth millions of dollars operating, being stored or undergoing work thousands of miles away.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands' active aircraft register, updated in May, contains 211 aircraft. They range from helicopters and private jets to Airbus and Boeing passenger aircraft, including A320s, Boeing 737s and four Airbus A330 widebodies.

Many are not based in Cayman at all. Some are registered to international aircraft leasing and finance companies, including companies in Ireland, one of the world's major centres of aircraft leasing.

The biggest aircraft currently on the register illustrates the scale.

A royal A330

VP-CBJ is an Airbus A330-941 - a modern long-haul widebody of a type normally capable of carrying hundreds of passengers. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (CAACI)’s register shows the aircraft, serial number 2085, registered to Jet Aviation Flight Services (Malta) Limited in March 2025.

The aircraft was ordered for the government of Saudi Arabia and delivered via Zurich to Basel on March 28, 2025, where its luxurious cabin is being fitted out ahead of expected delivery in 2027. It is the world's first Airbus A330-900 neo to be outfitted as a VIP aircraft.

From Qatar Airways to ‘Hijack’

Another Cayman-registered A330 has had a very different life.

VP-CNW, serial number 659, owned by Wilmington Trust SP Services (Dublin) Limited formerly flew passengers for Qatar Airways before being withdrawn from airline service. CAACI's current register records it to Wilmington Trust SP Services (Dublin) Limited.

After leaving Qatar, the aircraft passed through Ireland West Airport Knock in 2021 before going into storage at Cotswold Airport at Kemble in England.

There, the former passenger jet found an unusual second career: it was used for ground filming of the Apple TV+ thriller Hijack, starring Idris Elba, dressed as the fictional Kingdom Airlines aircraft at the centre of the series.

Even the registration marks themselves tell a story about the changing reach of Cayman aviation.

The many lives of VP-CAL

For years, VP-CAL was a familiar sight to Cayman travellers. The registration belonged to Cayman Airways' Boeing 737-200, serial number 22022, a classic narrowbody known as the Pride of Grand Cayman that served the national airline for more than a decade.

But aircraft registrations can be recycled after an aircraft leaves the register. The next aircraft to wear VP-CAL could hardly have been more different.

The registration was subsequently assigned to a Boeing 777-200LR (serial number 40753), one of Boeing’s largest and longest-range passenger aircraft. It was operated in a VVIP role and seen at airports around the world. The aircraft remained on the Cayman register as VP-CAL for many years before being acquired by Qatar Amiri Flight in August 2025 and re-registered A7-MSD. It continues to serve in a VIP configuration with Qatar’s government flight operation.

The VP-CAL registration has since been recycled once again. CAACI records subsequently assigned the mark to a Boeing 737-8LX, owned by Garde Management Limited (British Virgin Islands).

The journey of that single registration - from a Cayman Airways workhorse, to a globe-trotting VVIP 777, and now another privately owned 737 - traces the Cayman aircraft register’s evolution from familiar local aviation to a far broader international business.

A global register

The Cayman Aircraft Register encompasses private and corporate aircraft as well as commercial aircraft held by international owners, financiers and leasing structures.

CAACI has also developed services specifically for aircraft leasing companies and financiers, including aircraft going through transitions between operators.

When an airliner reaches the end of a lease with one airline, it may need to be taken out of that country's register and parked while its owner arranges inspections, maintenance, repairs and modifications before delivering it to another carrier. An aircraft may also be repossessed, stored while awaiting a buyer or prepared for eventual dismantling.

Cayman can provide a regulatory home during that period. Maintenance facilities thousands of miles from the Caribbean therefore need the appropriate CAACI authorisation if they want to perform covered work on those aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands says the appeal of the jurisdiction rests partly on the reputation of its registry.

“Standards are rigid and specifications exact to qualify, but this has led to the register being highly respected and recognised throughout the aviation industry internationally,” the authority states on its website.

That helps explain why EirTrade Aviation's expanding facility at Ireland West Airport Knock has now received CAACI approval for Cayman-registered aircraft, alongside new authorisations from aviation authorities in Guernsey and Bermuda, announced this past week.

The approvals cover line maintenance, aircraft transitions, parking, storage and return-to-service work across Airbus A320 and A320neo models, the A330 series and Boeing 737 NG and MAX aircraft.

Jim Maguinness, quality manager at EirTrade Aviation, said the company identified the opportunity while looking at how it could expand the maintenance services offered to airlines and aircraft lessors.

“We observed that some leasing companies and operators were using Bailiwick of Guernsey (2-REG), Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (VP-C) and Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority BCAA (VP-B) for operations, transitions, parking and storage - this presented an excellent opportunity for us to expand our capabilities to further support their requirements,” Maguinness said.

Obtaining the approvals required EirTrade's compliance and safety team to prepare additional maintenance organisation procedures, documents and forms, provide staff training and authorisations for certifying staff. The applications were then subjected to desktop and on-site audits.

For Cayman-registered aircraft, EirTrade now holds CAACI approval CAY-AMO-061347.

The expanded regulatory reach has already produced business.

“The potential opportunities were realised immediately,” Maguinness said. “We welcomed two aircraft into parking and storage programmes - one is 2-REG and the second is Cayman Reg. Both are new customers for EirTrade Aviation Maintenance Limited.”

The Ireland connection

Cayman’s aviation connection to Ireland is not incidental.

Ireland is one of the world's principal centres for aircraft leasing and finance, and CAACI's register contains aircraft registered to some of the industry's biggest names and specialist ownership structures.

SMBC Aviation Capital in Dublin, for example, is the registered owner of Airbus A320neo VP-CEY.

Macquarie Aviation Finance-related companies hold several passenger-configured Boeing 737-800s on the Cayman register, including VP-CMN and VP-CMW, former Nok Air aircraft now in the leasing and transition market. Their presence at Ireland West Airport Knock reflects the role of facilities such as EirTrade in storing, maintaining and preparing lessor-owned aircraft between operators.

Other specialist Irish leasing companies hold groups of Airbus aircraft. Six A320neos formerly operated by failed Indian airline Go First are registered to Dublin-based Sky High XC Leasing Company Limited and Sky High XCV Leasing Company Limited.

The register isn't simply a collection of mature aircraft. It also contains some of the newest and most expensive business jets on the market, including multiple Gulfstream G700s and Bombardier Global 7500s, alongside the factory-new A330neo undergoing VIP completion in Basel.

Cayman’s wider aviation footprint

Cayman's involvement in international aviation extends further still.

Aircraft carrying VP-C or VQ-C registrations represent only those actually entered on the Cayman register. Cayman companies can also be used as aircraft-owning entities in international financing and leasing structures when the aircraft itself is registered and operated elsewhere.

A Cayman government national risk assessment identified 484 Cayman legal entities classified as aircraft holding companies in 2021, specifically in connection with aircraft owned through Cayman entities but registered overseas.

That means an airliner can be Cayman-registered without ever carrying passengers to Grand Cayman - and may spend its entire period under Cayman oversight on the other side of the Atlantic.

For maintenance companies, that creates a growing opportunity. Aircraft moving between airlines can spend months parked while lessors arrange maintenance, inspections and paperwork before placing them with another carrier, with the work required to satisfy the jurisdiction overseeing the aircraft.

As more maintenance and storage facilities seek approvals to work on aircraft under Cayman regulatory oversight, the reach of the islands' aviation industry is becoming increasingly visible in unlikely places.