Santa Cruz, California and Dayton, Ohio, September 18, 2023 — Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE: JOBY), a company developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial passenger service, today announced it plans to locate its first scaled aircraft production facility in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation.
The Wright Brothers, who invented and flew the first powered aircraft, lived and worked in Dayton and opened the first airplane factory in the United States there in 1910. The city is also home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories which has played a key role in supporting Joby’s development.
Joby plans to build a facility capable of delivering up to 500 aircraft per year at the Dayton International Airport, supporting up to 2,000 jobs. The 140-acre site it has selected has the potential to support significant further growth over time, providing enough land to build up to two million square feet of manufacturing space. Construction of the scaled Ohio facility is expected to start in 2024 and it is expected to come online in 2025. Joby plans to use existing nearby buildings to begin near-term operations.
The State of Ohio, JobsOhio and local political subdivisions have offered incentives and benefits of up to $325 million to support the development of the facility, while Joby plans to invest up to $500 million as it scales operations at the site. Joby is also announcing today that it has been invited by the U.S. Department of Energy to submit a Part II Application for financing under the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, which provides access to low-interest loans for clean energy projects and would support the scaling of the facility.
Joby’s long-term investor, Toyota, who worked with Joby on the design and successful launch of the company’s Pilot Production Line in Marina, California, plans to continue to advise Joby as it prepares for scaled production of its commercial passenger air taxi in Ohio.
Click the link below to watch the Joby aircraft rollout!
CHICAGO, Feb. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) today announced that it has completed an agreement to work with air mobility company Archer as part of the airline’s broader effort to invest in emerging technologies that decarbonize air travel. Rather than relying on traditional combustion engines, Archer’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are designed to use electric motors and have the potential for future use as an ‘air taxi’ in urban markets.
Under the terms of the agreement, United will contribute its expertise in airspace management to assist Archer with the development of battery-powered, short-haul aircraft. Once the aircraft are in operation and have met United’s operating and business requirements, United, together with Mesa Airlines, would acquire a fleet of up to 200 of these electric aircraft that would be operated by a partner and are expected to give customers a quick, economical and low-carbon way to get to United’s hub airports and commute in dense urban environments within the next five years.
Working with Archer is another example of United’s commitment to identifying and investing in innovative technology that can reduce carbon emissions while also improving the customer experience and earning a strong financial return. The airline was an early stage investor in Fulcrum BioEnergy and recently partnered with 1PointFive, a joint venture between Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Rusheen Capital, to jumpstart the establishment of direct air capture and sequestration technology.
With today’s technology, Archer’s aircraft are designed to travel distances of up to 60 miles at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour and future models will be designed to travel faster and further. Not only are Archer’s aircraft capable of saving individuals time on their commute, United estimates that using Archer’s eVTOL aircraft could reduce CO2 emissions by 47% per passenger on a trip between Hollywood and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), one of the initial cities where Archer plans to launch its fleet.
Led by co-founders and co-CEOs Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein, Archer’s mission is to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility at scale. Archer plans to unveil its full scale eVTOL aircraft in 2021, begin aircraft production in 2023, and launch consumer flights in 2024. To drive this fourth transportation revolution and transform how people approach everyday life, work and adventure, Archer has built a highly accomplished team of top engineering and design talent, with a collective 200+ years of eVTOL experience.
Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP) will release fourth quarter 2020 financial and operating results on Thursday, January 21, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. ET. The company’s management team will host a conference call and live webcast at 8:45 a.m. ET.
Parties interested in participating via teleconference may dial 877-407-8293. International callers may dial 201-689-8349. A live webcast of the presentation and materials will be available in the investor relations section of Union Pacific’s website at www.up.com/investor. A replay of the audio webcast will be available shortly thereafter.
Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) will be joining the S&P 500 index, expanding its investor base and putting the electric car maker in the same company as market behemoths such as Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, and Microsoft.
The announcement, made Monday afternoon by the S&P Dow Jones Indices, sent the company’s shares 13.7% higher in after-market trading. Tesla will officially join the benchmark stock index before the market opens on December 21, the index stated.
When Tesla joins the S&P 500, it will be one of the most valuable companies on the benchmark index. The weighting will be so influential that the S&P is debating whether or not to add the stock at its full market capitalization weight all at once, or in two separate tranches.
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s largest airline, Korean Air, plans to sell around 1 trillion won ($816.55 million) in new shares in its biggest rights issue in 20 years to raise funds amid mounting strains in the industry due to the pandemic.
Korean Air is the latest carrier to raise funds as travel restrictions imposed by governments around the world have led to airlines grounding their fleets worldwide.
Korean Air separately plans to receive 1.2 trillion won in support from South Korean state-owned banks.
About 79 million newly issued shares, to be listed on July 29, will be first bought by the carrier’s shareholders, including holding company Hanjin Kal which has a 30% stake in the carrier, followed by general public, the company said in a statement.
“Korean Air will continue to carry out self-rescue measures to overcome the dismal business environment due to COVID-19,” the company said.
Korean Air had 70% or more of its employees working in South Korea take a six-month leave of absence in April. Woo Kee-hong, the airline’s president, warned in March that the coronavirus outbreak could threaten its survival if the situation becomes prolonged.
Korean Air also picked last month a preferred bidder to buy its real estate and non-core assets, which some analysts value at about 400-500 billion won.
Korean Air had a debt-to-equity ratio of about 870% as of end-2019. It is expected to announce January-March quarter earnings later this week.
A spokeswoman for Korean Air said it was operating just 10% of its previously planned international schedule, and 60% of its domestic schedule.
The airline said it expects its June international schedule to rise to 20% of its previous plan, as it announced the addition of more international passenger flights to prepare for increased travel demand once COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed.
United Airlines Holdings Inc said earlier this month it plans to raise $2.25 billion through a bond offering, after announcing a public offering to raise more than $1 billion in April.
In March, Singapore Airlines said it would issue S$5.3 billion ($3.70 billion) in new equity and up to S$9.7 billion($6.78 billion) via mandatory convertible bonds in a rights issue backed by state investor Temasek Holdings.
($1 = 1,224.6700 won)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Louise Heavens)
Korean Air’s passenger planes are parked following outbreak of COVID-19, at Incheon International Airport
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)
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) today announced the completion of its previously announced sale to affiliates of Brookfield Infrastructure and GIC.
Under the terms of the sale, each issued and outstanding share of G&W common stock converted into the right to receive $112 in cash. As a result of the completion of the sale, G&W’s common stock ceased trading on the NYSE prior to market open today and will no longer be listed for trading on the NYSE.
“This transaction is an excellent outcome for all G&W stakeholders,” said Jack Hellmann, Chief Executive Officer of G&W. “For our customers, employees, and Class I partners, the long-term investment horizon of Brookfield and GIC is perfectly aligned with the long lives of G&W railroad assets. We look forward to building on G&W’s track record of safety, service excellence and commercial growth as we become an important component of a portfolio of global infrastructure assets.”
About Genesee & Wyoming
G&W owns or leases 119 freight railroads organized in locally managed operating regions with 8,000 employees serving 3,000 customers.
G&W’s six North American regions serve 42 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and include 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles.
G&W’s Australia Region serves New South Wales, the Northern Territory and South Australia and operates the 1,400-mile Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail line. The Australia Region is 51.1% owned by G&W and 48.9% owned by a consortium of funds and clients managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
G&W’s UK/Europe Region includes the U.K.’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second-largest freight rail provider, as well as regional rail services in Continental Europe.
G&W subsidiaries and joint ventures also provide rail service at more than 40 major ports, rail-ferry service between the U.S. Southeast and Mexico, transload services, contract coal loading, and industrial railcar switching and repair. For more information, please visit www.gwrr.com.
About Brookfield Infrastructure
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is a leading global infrastructure company that owns and operates high quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. We are focused on assets that generate stable cash flows and require minimal maintenance capital expenditures. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.brookfieldinfrastructure.com.
Brookfield Infrastructure is the flagship listed infrastructure company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $500 billion of assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. As a disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In infrastructure, GIC’s primary strategy is to invest directly in operating assets with a high degree of cash flow visibility and which provide a hedge against inflation. GIC has investments in over 40 countries. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,500 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information on GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg.
Investment firm Bain Capital Credit will invest an initial $360 million in a joint venture with Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (NASDAQ: AAWW), a major provider of outsourced all-cargo aircraft operations and other aviation services, to lease freighter aircraft, the companies said Wednesday.
Under the agreement, Atlas’ leasing subsidiary Titan Aviation Holdings Inc. will contribute $40 million of equity towards the portfolio, which ultimately could have a value of $1 billion with additional commitments to acquire aircraft over the next several years. The number and type of planes to be acquired are still to be determined. Titan will identify and source aircraft, as well as provide lease-management services to the venture.
The new company will be called Titan Aircraft Investment, Dan Loh, Atlas’ vice president of investor relations, told FreightWaves. “The parties are working expeditiously to complete and implement all elements of the joint venture,” he said.
Since its inception in 2009, Titan has grown to become the third-largest freighter lessor globally by fleet value with over 30 aircraft and a book value of over $1.5 billion.
Titan provides aircraft to airlines, which put them under their own operating certificate and then fly, maintain and insure them. Contracts are usually long term.
LOS ANGELES, November 11, 2019 – Air Lease Corporation (the “Company” or “ALC”) announced today that the Company initiated the sale of a portfolio of 19 aircraft to Thunderbolt III Aircraft Lease Limited (“Thunderbolt III”), a newly formed entity, and Thunderbolt III has now completed its equity and debt financing transactions. The aircraft comprise a mix of narrowbody and widebody jet aircraft that, as of August 31, 2019, had a weighted average age of 9.7 years and were leased to 18 lessees based in 15 countries. ALC and its Irish affiliate, ALC Aircraft Limited, will act as servicers with respect to the aircraft and ALC will act as portfolio manager. ALC estimates that the process of transfer and sale of the majority of aircraft will occur progressively during Q4 2019 and Q1 2020.
The Thunderbolt III structure included two series of Fixed Rate Notes and Equity Certificates. Approximately 15.6865% of the Equity Certificates were purchased by the anchor investor which is an investment vehicle managed by ITE Management L.P. and approximately 5% of the Equity Certificates were purchased by ALC.
Proceeds from the issuance of the Notes and the Equity Certificates will be used to acquire the aircraft, fund certain accounts for the Notes and pay certain expenses.
“We are pleased to announce the closing of Thunderbolt III. This transaction allows ALC to efficiently sell 19 aircraft while retaining the customer relationships through our continued management of these aircraft. I would like to thank our team and the Thunderbolt III investors for making this a successful transaction,” said Gregory B. Willis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ALC.
Mizuho Securities acted as Global Coordinator, Mizuho Securities, BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as Joint Lead Structuring Agents and Joint Lead Bookrunners, Wells Fargo Securities acted as Joint Lead Bookrunner, and BNP PARIBAS, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, MUFG, RBC Capital Markets, SOCIETE GENERALE and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey acted as Passive Bookrunners (for the Notes) and Co-Managers (for the Equity Certificates).
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP acted as U.S. counsel to ALC and the Issuers, and Milbank LLP acted as U.S. counsel to the Global Coordinator, the Joint Lead Structuring Agents and the Joint Lead Bookrunners. EY acted as U.S. and Irish tax advisors. Walkers acted as Cayman Islands counsel and A&L Goodbody acted as Irish counsel. Vedder Price P.C. acted as counsel for ITE.
Canyon Financial Services Limited will act as the managing agent for the Issuers. Citibank, N.A. will act as trustee, security trustee, paying agent and operating bank. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. will also act as the liquidity facility provider. DealVector, Inc. will provide certain investor services for the holders of the Notes and Equity Certificates.
Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana, first for Spain;
El Metropol Madrid, Curio Collection by Hilton, first for Madrid;
Atocha Hotel Madrid, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, first for Spain and first outside Americas
MADRID and MCLEAN, Va. – Hilton (NYSE: HLT) today announced the signing of three hotel franchise agreements with strategic investor partners, bringing three new brands to Madrid, of which two mark brand entries to the country. The addition of Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana; El Metropol Madrid, Curio Collection by Hilton; and Atocha Hotel Madrid, Tapestry Collection by Hilton represents a significant milestone for the global hospitality company, illustrating Hilton’s continued investment in Madrid as a premier tourist destination and its ambitions to further expand across Spain.
Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president, development, EMEA, Hilton, said: “Spain has seen a surge in popularity, and Madrid is a particularly strong tourist market that has so much to offer. In 2018 the city welcomed a record-breaking 10 million visitors, making Madrid one of Europe’s most dynamic destinations for both business and leisure travellers. Responding to the increasing demand for great hotels combined with opportunities from world-class infrastructure investment and regeneration programmes, Hilton has expanded its portfolio to bring some of our most popular brands to Spain. Our new Madrid hotels will offer fantastic guest experiences and enrich communities.”
Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana
In partnership with Hotel Investment Partners (HIP), Hilton introduces its upper-upscale lifestyle brand, Canopy by Hilton, to Spain. HIP, Blackstone’s hotel investment platform, own the property and intend to invest €34 million in the hotel’s transformation, which will offer 311 guest rooms and multiple dining outlets, including a terrace restaurant overlooking Carlos Trias Bertran Square and a signature lobby café, Canopy Central. Expected to open in 2021, Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana is a perfect venue for guests looking to explore the capital. Situated close to the Paseo de la Castellana, one of the longest and widest avenues of Madrid, the hotel is near vibrant neighbourhood bars and restaurants, commercial buildings and international company headquarters, as well as Madrid’s world-famous Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid Football Club.
El Metropol Madrid, Curio Collection by Hilton
Joining a global portfolio of more than 70 one-of-a-kind hotels and resorts and located at the corner of Calle de la Montera and Gran Via, El Metropol Madrid, Curio Collection by Hilton is in the heart of Madrid’s historical town centre and close to the lively Puerta del Sol neighbourhood. With many rooms facing Gran Via, one of the city’s bustling streets with theatres, cinemas, shopping, restaurants and bars, guests can enjoy a stunning view of Madrid city life. Guests at the 93-room upper-upscale hotel will enjoy a range of facilities and amenities, including a rooftop bar with unbeatable city views. Its central location means many tourist attractions are within walking distance with easy access to Madrid’s metro network and connections to its business district. In partnership with owning company Montera 47, El Metropol Madrid is slated to make its debut in January 2021, joining existing Curio Collection hotels in Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga and Ibiza.
Atocha Hotel Madrid, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
Atocha Hotel Madrid, Tapestry Collection by Hilton joins a portfolio of hotels that offer guests unique style and an authentic connection to their destination. Brought to market by hotel operator Panoram Hotel Management, the 46-room hotel on Calle Atocha is just metres from Madrid Atocha railway station, the busiest in Spain, and is within walking distance of popular tourist attractions, including the Museo Reina Sofia, Prado Museum and the El Reitro Park. The first Tapestry Collection hotel to open in Spain and the brand’s first outside the Americas, Atocha Hotel Madrid will introduce the Tapestry Collection experience to Madrid locals and visitors alike. Amongst the amenities available, guests can select to stay in one of four Five Feet to Fitness rooms, a revolutionary in-room wellness concept created by Hilton allowing guests to work out in their guest room, with more than 11 pieces of fitness equipment and accessory options to choose from. The hotel is anticipated to open in the first quarter of 2020.
Hilton opened its first hotel in Madrid in 1953 and has since continued its commitment to investing in the city and supporting its growth as a leading tourist destination. Other Madrid properties include Hilton Madrid Airport (284 rooms), DoubleTree by Hilton Madrid Prado (61 rooms) and the 138-room Hampton by Hilton Madrid Alcobendas, located on Avenida de Fernando Alonso, which is set to open in January 2020.
Expansion on the Iberian Peninsula is a strategic focus for Hilton, and the company is growing faster in the region than ever before. It has signed a new Franchise or Management Agreement for a hotel in Spain every two months for the past two years, which represents more than 1,800 new keys. Hilton’s current Spanish portfolio of 12 hotels and resorts offers more than 2,000 hotel guest rooms and suites.
