Mesa Air Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MESA) today announced that it has completed a second closing through its previously disclosed five-year Loan and Guarantee Agreement under the Coronavirus Air, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
The Loan Agreement provided a secured term loan facility of up to $200 million. On October 30, 2020, Mesa borrowed $43 million under the facility and today, completed a second closing to borrow an additional $152 million. These funds may be used for general corporate purposes and operating expenses, to the extent permitted by the CARES Act.
“I’d like to again express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in making this deal happen. Our people have been working very hard to ensure Mesa and its employees are prepared to weather this storm”, said Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “These additional funds will substantially benefit our airline and the communities we serve as we continue to navigate the obstacles created by the pandemic”.
In connection with the additional $152 million drawn under the facility, Mesa issued warrants to the U.S. Treasury to purchase 3,819,095 shares of common stock, no par value. The Warrants have a five-year term from the date issued, were issued pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, and have substantially identical terms to the warrants issued on the initial closing.
Demand for international rail services between Germany and Switzerland has increased rapidly in recent years. At the Basel border crossing alone the number of passengers has increased by over 25 per cent in the past five years. Given the increasing importance of climate protection, the increase in travel by rail, an environmentally friendly mode of transport, is a trend which is expected to continue. Despite the current challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, the two rail companies DB and SBB firmly believe there is tremendous growth potential in rail services between Germany and Switzerland over the medium and long term. As a result, DB and SBB are planning a significant increase in services. Both rail companies today signed a memorandum of understanding on the proposals.
The planned increase in services will be made possible thanks to the opening of Stuttgart 21 and the completion of the Karlsruhe–Offenburg and Müllheim–Basel stages of improvements by 2026. The increase in services involves switching operation of all ICE services between Switzerland and Germany to ICE 4s, this being DB’s most modern train, and the use of SBB Giruno compositions in Germany.
The key features of the service increase planned from the 2026 timetable are:
– The number of direct services between Switzerland and Germany will rise from 26 at present to 35 connections a day.
– Two new direct services a day from Hamburg via Basel to Lugano will improve the services on the north-south axis via the Gotthard route. The use of the Giruno on this line means that further direct connections from Germany to Milan could be added in future.
– The new plan also involves running new direct services from Germany via Bern to Valais.
– The deployment of the ICE 4 on the Dortmund–Cologne–Basel line makes it possible to provide new direct services from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous federal state, to Switzerland.
– The half-hourly frequency in future on the Zurich to Chur route will allow additional direct connections from Germany to Chur to be provided.
– The journey time between Frankfurt and Zurich will be reduced by 20 minutes to 3 hours and 40 minutes.
In conjunction with the joint increase in services, SBB Giruno trains will also now be used on routes between Switzerland and Germany. SBB also plans to procure additional Giruno compositions from manufacturer Stadler Rail using existing options available. Vincent Ducrot, CEO of SBB, believes this increase in services is another major step which underlines SBB’s strong commitment to significantly improving international passenger services: “We want to make rail travel in Europe easier for our customers. Rail offers major advantages in terms of travel time and comfort and has gained further impetus from the climate debate. This is why we are focusing on the further development of international services. It is important to look at sustainable and efficient mobility at European level. Infrastructure projects, such as the Ceneri Base Tunnel and Stuttgart 21, are pioneering in this respect.” Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, said: “2021 is the European Year of Rail. Projects such as the revival of the Trans Europ Express for cross-border services and the development of our cooperation with SBB demonstrate this. These are wonderful indications that rail travel is growing across the entire continent, and first and foremost, that people and economic activity in Europe are coming closer together.”
Der neue Fernverkehrszug der SBB “FV Dosto”, ein Doppelstockzug, fotografiert wahrend der Typentestfahrt in Interlaken, am Donnerstag, 11. Mai 2017. (KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex)……..
DUBLIN, Ireland – Fly Leasing Limited (NYSE: FLY), a global leader in aircraft leasing, today announced it has closed a new $180 million Term Loan (the “2020 Term Loan”). The interest rate on the five-year term loan is LIBOR plus 6.00% with a 1.00% LIBOR floor. The financing was issued at an original issue discount of 4.5%. The 2020 Term Loan will be secured by 11 narrowbody aircraft owned by FLY and its subsidiaries, four of which are unencumbered and seven of which are currently financed in FLY’s 2012 Term Loan. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
“FLY is enhancing its liquidity position with the successful completion of a new $180 million term loan that attracted strong demand from a robust group of institutional lenders,” said Colm Barrington, CEO of FLY. “FLY does not have any aircraft orders or other foreseeable capital commitments. Additionally, FLY only has three aircraft remaining to be remarketed in 2020, representing 2.4% of net book value.”
Following completion of the financing of the collateral pool under the 2020 Term Loan and the anticipated transfers of certain unencumbered aircraft into the 2012 Term Loan, FLY will have a total of nine unencumbered narrowbody aircraft with a net book value of $204 million.
– Single site to improve operational efficiency as company adapts to market downturn and positions for recovery and long-term growth
– 787 production to continue in Everett, Wash. until program begins building at the previously announced rate of six airplanes a month in 2021
As the airline industry continues to address the impact of COVID-19, The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] said today it will consolidate production of 787 jets at its facility in North Charleston, S.C., starting in mid-2021, according to the company’s best estimate. The decision comes as the company is strategically taking action to preserve liquidity and reposition certain lines of business in the current global environment to enhance efficiency and improve performance for the long-term.
While Boeing’s versatile 787 family has outperformed other widebody airplanes during the challenging market downturn, its production system has been adjusted to accommodate the current difficult market environment while positioning the 787 family to ramp up production as air travel increases.
“The Boeing 787 is the tremendous success it is today thanks to our great teammates in Everett. They helped give birth to an airplane that changed how airlines and passengers want to fly. As our customers manage through the unprecedented global pandemic, to ensure the long-term success of the 787 program, we are consolidating 787 production in South Carolina,” said Stan Deal, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
“Our team in Puget Sound will continue to focus on efficiently building our 737, 747, 767 and 777 airplane families, and both sites will drive Boeing initiatives to further enhance safety, quality, and operational excellence.”
The company began assembling 787-8 and 787-9 airplanes at its Everett site in 2007, and brought the North Charleston facility on line as a second final assembly line in 2010. However, only the North Charleston site is set up to build the larger 787-10 model. Production of the smaller 787 models will continue in Everett until the program transitions to the previously-announced production rate of six airplanes a month in 2021.
In July, Boeing announced an in-depth study into the feasibility of producing 787s at a single location. The review examined the impacts and benefits to Boeing customers, suppliers, employees and the overall health of the production system. The 787 study is part of an enterprise review underway to reassess all aspects of Boeing’s facility footprint, organizational structure, portfolio and investment mix, and supply chain health and stability.
This analysis confirmed the feasibility and efficiency gains created by consolidation, which enables the company to accelerate improvements and target investments to better support customers.
“We recognize that production decisions can impact our teammates, industry and our community partners,” said Deal. “We extensively evaluated every aspect of the program and engaged with our stakeholders on how we can best partner moving forward. These efforts will further refine 787 production and enhance the airplane’s value proposition.”
Boeing said it is assessing potential impacts to employment in Everett and North Charleston and will communicate any changes directly to its employees.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Wednesday said it would maintain 15% tariffs on Airbus <AIR.PA> aircraft and 25% tariffs on other European goods, despite moves by the European Union to resolve a 16-year-old dispute over aircraft subsidies.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (USTR) said the EU had not taken actions necessary to come into compliance with World Trade Organization decisions, and Washington would initiate a new process to try to reach a long-term solution.
USTR said it would modify its list of $7.5 billion of affected European products to remove certain goods from Greece and Britain and add an equivalent amount from Germany and France.
It ignored calls from EU officials and U.S. lawmakers to drop tariffs on EU food, wine and spirits, but did not add tariffs to vodka, gin and beer as it had threatened.
Airbus said it “profoundly regrets” the U.S. decision to keep tariffs in place on its aircraft.
Washington’s decision to refrain from increasing the tariff rates would help prevent a further escalation, an EU official said, calling for intensified efforts to resolve trade conflicts between the powerful economic blocs.
EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan would continue his active engagement with Lighthizer to reach a negotiated settlement, the official said, noting that the current economic slowdown underscored the urgency of ending the conflict.
Last month, Airbus said it would increase loan repayments to France and Spain in a “final” bid to reverse U.S. tariffs and jog the United States into settling the long-running fight over billions of dollars of aircraft subsidies.
The United States declared itself in full compliance with WTO findings in May after Washington state abolished aerospace industry tax breaks that largely benefited Boeing.
Trade groups are bracing for an escalation of the row in the autumn when the EU is expected to win WTO approval to hit back with its own tariffs over subsidies for Boeing <BA>.
Airbus said in a statement it “trusts that Europe will respond appropriately to defend its interests and the interests of all the European companies and sectors, including Airbus, targeted by these tariffs.”
Boeing urged the EU and Airbus to launch prompt and “meaningful negotiations with the U.S. to address the full scope of their noncompliance and finally bring this case to an end.”
USTR in October 2019 imposed 25% tariffs on an array of EU food, wine and spirits, including Italian cheese and single-malt Scotch whisky in retaliation for EU subsidies on large aircraft.
It initially imposed 10% tariffs on Airbus aircraft but hiked that to 15% in March.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, David Lawder, David Shepardson and Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Chris Reese, Richard Pullin and Tom Brown)
Qantas planes are seen at Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney, Australia
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Qantas Airways Ltd <QAN.AX> said on Monday it had advised Airbus SE <AIR.PA> and Boeing Co <BA.N> that it did not expect to take delivery of any new planes in the near term as it grapples with a plunge in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline had expected to add three Boeing 787-9 jets to its fleet by the end of 2020 and to start taking delivery in August of the first of 18 Airbus A321neos due by 2022.
There is no longer a specific timeline for them to arrive because the market is too uncertain, a Qantas spokesman said, confirming a report on travel website Executive Traveller.
Many carriers around the world have grounded the bulk of their fleets and halted aircraft deliveries in response to the pandemic, leading Airbus and Boeing to cut production rates.
Qantas last week said it had shelved plans to order this year up to 12 A350s capable of the world’s longest commercial flights from Sydney to London. It said it was reviewing its fleet with the expectation that most international travel could take years to rebound.
More than 25,000 of the airline’s staff have been stood down until at least the end of June as the carrier is flying only 5% of its pre-crisis domestic passenger network and 1% of its pre-crisis international network.
An Airbus spokesman said his company did not comment on delivery schedules for airlines. Boeing did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
The International Airfreight Capacity agreement with the Ministry of Transport will allow exporters and importers the ability to access key markets in a world where available air freight capacity is reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Air New Zealand General Manager Cargo Rick Nelson says cargo customers will be able to access capacity across Air New Zealand’s traditional network, with a handful of exceptions.
“The new agreement means Air New Zealand can publish scheduled cargo services into key markets which will allow freight forwarders, exporters and importers to plan and operate their logistics supply chains with certainty.
“We are working to offer connectivity to and from the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as Houston and Chicago via Los Angeles and San Francisco, Hong Kong and Narita gateways.
“This agreement will add significant value to New Zealand’s air cargo community, and we encourage the New Zealand forwarding, export and import communities to get behind these cargo options. Naturally, we hope the need to operate under an agreement of this nature will be a short-term business model and in time we’ll be able to revert to our traditional model as demand for passenger travel begins to pick up.”
Ports the airline will not operate cargo flights to under the agreement are London and Buenos Aires. Singapore is also not included in the initial phase.
HONG KONG, April 19 (Reuters) – United Airlines will sell and lease back 22 planes to Bank of China (BOC) Aviation, a statement from the aircraft investor released to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said on Sunday.
The deal involves six Boeing 787-9 aircraft and 16 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft from United Airlines, the statement said.
The Singapore-based BOC Aviation did not reveal how much the purchase was worth but said the planes would be leased back to United on long-term agreements.
United said on Wednesday it had reduced its flight schedule in May by 90% and expects similar cuts for June as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. airline also said it flew less than 200,000 people in the first two weeks of April, a 97% drop from the more than 6 million people it flew during the same time in 2019.
BOC Aviation, which focuses on aircraft leasing, has a fleet of 567 planes owned, managed or on order as at the end of March, the statement said
The transaction was finalised on Friday and the deal is expected to close later this year, the statement said.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Global defence company Nova Group is maintaining its projections of over $200 million revenue this financial year with longer-term goals to continue expanding its global reach. A newer focus on space is continuing to diversify the portfolio of the South Australian headquartered company that has invested more than $20 million on eight acquisitions across the globe to cement its footprint.
In South Australia, the company’s new Nova IGS Network is providing space ground connectivity for small satellite operators with the site now being used by international clients including Tyvak USA and RBC USA. Nova is also in talks with an Italian-based space company wanting to expand its presence in Australia.
Based on a 21 hectare site in Peterborough in South Australia’s mid north, the site is used to track low earth orbit satellites through customer’s own terminals and Nova has plans to attract further European companies over upcoming years. “Nova is also planning to utilise the site as a ground station test bed for emerging Space 2.0 technologies and support future defence projects,” a spokesman said. “Peterborough provides the vital ground segment element in order to allow satellite operators to downlink/download their data.”
Nova Group is marking 20 years in business, with Nova Systems founded by Jim Whalley and Peter Nikoloff and originally offering flight-testing services in South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide. It has since grown to having 600 employees working on projects around the world including with the Australian Defence Force, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, Royal Norwegian Air Force and the Republic of Singapore Air Force. “With a solid foundation in the defence markets in Australia and the UK, and a footprint in space, transport and energy, I am very proud to be exporting Australian capability and know-how to the world and look forward to positioning to our next growth phase,” Whalley said. Nova was recently awarded one of four industry leads in the Major Service Provider consortium providing integrated support contracts to the Australia Defence Force over the next 10 years.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) said Tuesday that it plans to sell the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay properties to a joint venture of MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. for $4.6 billion.
The Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust will purchase $150 million in MGM Growth Properties Class A shares. MGP will own 50.1% of the joint venture, and BREIT will own 49.9%.
MGM Resorts will enter into a long-term triple net master lease for the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay and will continue to manage and be responsible for the properties on a day-to-day basis, with the joint venture owning the properties and receiving rent payments.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
“We are pleased to announce this partnership with BREIT, which illustrates the numerous opportunities available to grow our business and emphasizes the strong institutional demand for gaming real estate assets,” MGP CEO James Stewart said in a statement.
“Along with the contemplated cash redemption of $1.4 billion of MGM’s operating partnership units as announced by MGM, we expect this transaction to be accretive to AFFO while allowing us to maintain pro rata net leverage of 5.6x.”
MGM shares were down 0.45% at $33.22 at the time of publication Tuesday. The stock has a 52-week high of $33.87 and a 52-week low of $23.68.
