Norton Rose Fulbright has appointed banking and finance partner Keith Sandilands as its new head of aviation for Asia.

Sandilands will relocate from the firm's London office to Singapore this month to replace partner Leigh Borrello, who moved to Sydney in September to build the firm's Australian asset finance practice.

Sandilands previously worked in Norton Rose's Singapore and Jakarta offices between 1991 and 1999.

He is experienced in all aspects of aviation, including domestic and cross border finance, operating leasing and the sale and purchase of aircraft, and has acted for airlines, finance and operating lessors, banks and equity providers.

He brings the total number of partners in the firm's Asian aviation practice to seven, including Jeremy Gibb in Tokyo, Marc Waha in Hong Kong, Lynn Yang and Fei Kwok in Shanghai, Tasdikiah Siregar in Jakarta and Borrello in Sydney.

Jeff Smith, head of Southeast Asia for the firm, said: "Keith is an aviation specialist, has a strong Asian client base and has previously worked in the region.

"His focus will be to further develop our aviation practice across Asia, especially in India, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia."

Norton Rose, which was among the first six international outfits to be awarded a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence in Singapore, has seen a number of departures from that office this year.

Among the most significant was the exit of dealmakers Jake Robson and Adam Summerly, who joined Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) in July, whilst it also lost banking and finance partner Dan Marjanovic to Simmons & Simmons for the firm's launch in March.