Chairman & Managing Director
China Aviation Valuation Advisors

Professor David Yu, PhD, CFA, FRAeS, Senior ISTAT Certified Aviation Appraiser is Chairman and Managing Director of AAVA Group along with other Asia based local entities (Asia Aviation Valuation Advisors AAVA, China Aviation Valuation Advisors CAVA, Korea Aviation Valuation Advisors KAVA), where they are the only professional aviation valuation and advisory company with local presence in Asia with global coverage. He is also a professor of practice in finance at New York University Shanghai and Stern Schools and is a recognized expert and thought leader in cross border investing, financing, valuation, real assets and aviation. He is the only Senior ISTAT (International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading) Certified Aviation Appraiser in China and N. Asia and one of ~20 globally. He is an experienced entrepreneur, PE investor, lessor, banker advisor, and appraiser. He also acts as a board director or advisor of companies and funds including an airline.

Prof. Yu was previously co-founder and Chief Investment Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Inception Aviation Holdings, where he raised a $500m fund that was sold and subsequently turned into a family investment office. Prior to that, he was the China Chief Representative, VP Asia (Head of Asia) and Senior Executive Committee member at Libra Group, a large Greek family investment conglomerate. He was instrumental in the initial development of the Lease Corporation International, the aviation leasing division.  Prof. Yu was based in four continents before running Asia and founding the China business. He started his career as a investment banker at Banc of America Securities.

He writes as a contributing writer or editor and is quoted by many industry publications including Forbes, Nikkei Asian Review, Bloomberg, FT, WSJ, NY Times, Airline Economics, Airfinance Journal, etc. and a business commentator for other media. His book titled, “Aircraft Valuation: Airplane Investments As An Asset Class” was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan and has been featured by Wall Street Journal among others. He previously was a senior instructor for IATA. Prof. Yu is a is a fellow of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins University.

Prof. Yu is a CFA Charterholder and Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has a double major B.A. (full honors) in economics and computer science and an M.S. geography and environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He has an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Nottingham Business School. He has also studied at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management and the National University of Singapore’s School of Business.  He is an Editor in Chief of Journal of Aviation Finance and Law and an Editorial Board member for the Journal Of Structured Finance and other finance and applied economics journals. He is a frequently invited speaker at investment and financing conferences and events.