When SMBC Capital Aviation announced the executive team this week for its bumper merger with Air Lease, it marked a significant chapter in closing one of the biggest deals in aviation leasing in recent memory. The acquisition, announced last year, is worth $7.4 billion but actually comes to a grand a total of $28.2 billion when debt is taken into account. SMBC is leading a consortium with its Japanese parent Sumitomo and investment firms Apollo and Brookfield Asset Management to buy the New York-listed lessor. As aviation executives and dealmakers gathered in Dublin this week at the Growth Frontiers conference,…