Biography: Aviation

Donald Gray is co-chair of the aviation and aerospace group and is a partner in the financial services group at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. He advises a number of aircraft lessors, financiers, manufacturers, and domestic and international airlines on aircraft finance and aviation commercial and regulatory law matters. Donald has advised on the financing or re-financing of more than 700 aircraft over the past 10 years and he played a leading role on behalf of aircraft financiers in every significant Canadian airline bankruptcy proceeding in the last 25 years, including Wardair, Odyssey International Airlines, Vacationair, Worldways, Nationair, Can-Air Cargo, Vistajet, Canadian Airlines International Ltd, Inter-Canadien, Canada 3000, Royal Airlines, All-Canada Express, Knighthawk, Air Canada, Jazz, Jetsgo, Zoom Airlines and Skyservice, among others. Donald represented GECAS in the Air Canada restructuring, which received the Airfinance Journal Deal of the Year Award in 2004.

Donald was a Canadian delegate to the Unidroit/ICAO sessions, which enacted the Cape Town Convention on international interests in aircraft in 2001. In 1999, he was a member of the drafting group in Rome, and in 2001, he was chair of the insolvency group in Montreal that prepared the final Cape Town insolvency provisions. He has also served on the legal advisory panel of the Aviation Working Group (AWG), a group of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers and financiers, since the formation of the panel in 2000. Donald served as chair of the AWG legal panel from 2006 to 2008. Donald co-ordinated the Canadian airline advisory submissions to the government of Canada in respect of the 2010/11 Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU) OECD negotiations. He has also served as vice president and general counsel of an international charter airline, an Air Canada regional connector, and an international cargo carrier. Donald is an active aircraft owner and IFR (instrument flight rules) rated pilot. He holds Canadian, United States and South African aviation documents.

Donald is recognised as the top aviation expert in Canada in Legal Media Group's The Best of the Best 2011 and is also recognised as a leading lawyer in aviation law and equipment finance law in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2011 and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2010. He is listed in Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Aviation Lawyers 2012 and Who's Who Legal: Canada 2010 in the area of aviation law. In Legal Media Group's The Best of the Best 2007, Donald was named as the top aviation expert in Canada and was the only Canadian named in the "World's Top 25 Aviation Lawyers". He is a contributing author to Aircraft Liens and Detention Rights and Aircraft Finance and provides the Canada chapter for the Airfinance Annual. He is also a frequent writer and speaker on the subject of aircraft finance, both nationally and abroad.

Donald is a member of the legal affairs committee of the Air Transport Association of Canada. He is also a member of the Canadian Business Aircraft Association. He was invited by Transport Canada Aviation to join the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council. Donald also acts as organiser and chair of the annual Canadian Airline Investment Conference held in Toronto.