Characterisation of Aircraft Leases under the India-Ireland DTAA: Operating Lease, Financial Lease, and Treaty Protection

Aircraft leases with no purchase option and retained lessor title remain operating leases, not interest-bearing financings.

Where aircraft lease documentation preserves legal title in the lessor, imposes a return obligation without any purchase option or residual-payment mechanism, and regulatory treatment aligns with operating-lease norms, the arrangement constitutes an operating lease; absent an enforceable transfer of ownership to the lessee at term end, lease rentals cannot be re-characterised as interest for treaty purposes merely because of lease tenure or finance-like pricing.