Tag: leaseback

CDB Financial Scraps Purchase of 29 Boeing 737 MAX Jets

April 20, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

SYDNEY (Reuters) – China Development Bank (CDB) Financial Leasing Co said on Monday it had agreed with Boeing Co <BA.N> to cancel the purchase of 29 undelivered 737 MAX jets, adding to a string of recent cancellations of the grounded airplane.

The model has been grounded globally for more than a year following deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

“In light of evolving aviation market dynamics, we’ve been working together with Boeing over many months to re-calibrate our MAX orderbook to be in line with our long-term view of the market and related opportunities,” Xuedong Wang, chairman of CDB Financial unit CDB Aviation, said in a statement.

The lessor said it retained an order for another 70 of the planes that also have yet to be delivered.

Boeing recorded a total of 150 MAX cancellations in March, including 75 from Irish leasing company Avolon. Boeing remains in talks with regulators seeking approval to return the plane to service, but its customers have also seen a sharp fall-off in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Boeing said in a statement it continued to partner with leasing company customers to help them balance their portfolios in a challenging market.

“As we work to return the 737 MAX to service, our focus remains on addressing our customers’ fleet needs while optimising the delivery of the more than 4,000 airplanes in our 737 backlog,” it said.

“As market conditions normalise, Boeing anticipates that lessors who have restructured or reduced their orderbooks will continue to add MAX aircraft to their portfolios through sale leaseback agreements with airlines,” the planemaker said. “Longer term we expect these lessors will again place orders for direct MAX purchases.”

CDB Financial Leasing said that all 737 MAX 10 jets still on order will be switched to the smaller 737 MAX 8 model, and 20 deliveries will be deferred to dates in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed; additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Tom Hogue and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

A Boeing 737 Max aircraft is seen parked in a storage area at the company’s production facility in Renton

EasyJet Says Can Ride Out 9 Month Shutdown and Slow Recovery

April 18, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: EasyJet planes parked at Luton airport after the airline grounded its entire fleet

LONDON (Reuters) – EasyJet can survive a nine-month shutdown thanks to its measures to contend with the coronavirus crisis and is planning for a slow recovery, the British airline said on Thursday.

As airlines worldwide battle for survival after lockdowns and travel bans brought the sector to a virtual standstill, EasyJet announced a new fleet plan to manage its emergence from the enforced hibernation.

The UK-based company said it will start to shrink its fleet and the number of planes it operates will not reach pre-crisis levels until 2022, signalling that it does not expect a quick recovery for the industry.

“We’ve been able to adapt ourselves to reduced demand for the next couple of years, then have the flexibility to increase as demand picks up again,” Chief Executive Johan Lundgren told reporters.

The industry is split on how quickly the sector can recover. Lufthansa, plane manufacturers and airline body IATA have warned that it will be a slow process. EasyJet’s bigger low-cost rival Ryanair, meanwhile, has predicted a swift rebound in traffic.

Lundgren said that, while he does not expect the grounding of easyJet’s fleet to last nine months, the company would remain cash-positive even if that were the case and could survive for longer than that by seeking additional funding.

Among the steps it is taking, easyJet is in talks over the sale and leaseback of some planes to leasing companies, with expected proceeds of up to 550 million pounds ($687 million).

“Overall, the company has presented a very credible response to the crisis,” said Goodbody analyst Mark Simpson.

In addition to the deferral of new orders and non-renewal of leases, easyJet said it now plans to sell six aircraft.

The airline, however, has faced calls from its founder and biggest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to terminate its 4.5 billion pound order with Airbus for 107 new jets.

He escalated his row with management on Thursday, issuing a statement saying he planned to call for the removal of Lundgren as well as chairman John Barton at forthcoming meetings. He said Lundgren should not send money to Airbus for planes while running an “aircraft parking lot”.

CASH PILE

Through various funding initiatives, easyJet expects to generate total additional liquidity of about 1.85 billion to 1.95 billion pounds, leading to a notional cash balance of about 3.3 billion pounds.

Given the level of continued market uncertainty, the company said it is not possible to provide guidance for the remainder of the 2020 financial year.

However, it said winter bookings are well ahead of those at the same stage last year, with Lundgren adding that he expects there to be pent-up demand for holidays as people emerge from lockdown.

But travel restrictions are likely to ease slowly and easyJet will have to be flexible, the CEO said. “I don’t think this is going to be a case of let’s just open everything up,” he added.

Measures under consideration include disinfecting aircraft and steps to ensure social distancing on planes.

“We will clearly look to have the middle seat empty as we start,” Lundgren said. “I think that is actually what the customers would like to see.”

EasyJet shares were up 2.2% at 616 pence at 1207 GMT, having lost more than 50% year to date.

($1 = 0.8007 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton and David Goodman)

Jet Airways Planes To Be Redeployed If Restructuring Fails

March 8, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

* FLY Leasing has grounded 3 Boeing 737s

* Jet Airways says 28 planes grounded for non-payment of dues

* Lenders, Etihad yet to approve restructure (Adds graphic)

SINGAPORE, March 8 (Reuters) – FLY Leasing Ltd has grounded three planes on lease to India’s Jet Airways Ltd and will take them back and redeploy them elsewhere if the airline cannot gain approvals for a restructuring plan this month, the lessor’s CEO said.

Jet Airways on Thursday said another three aircraft had been grounded due to its failure to make payments, taking the total number to 28, but it has not specified the lessors involved.

The grounding of nearly one-quarter of the airline’s fleet has led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and complaints from customers on social media.

Several major global aircraft leasing companies, including AerCap Holdings NV and BOC Aviation have exposure to the financially troubled airline, which has defaulted on loans and has not paid pilots, leasing firms and suppliers for months.

“We have grounded our aircraft, we have control over our aircraft, but we have not terminated the leases and we are waiting for the airline to approve all its restructuring with the State Bank of India,” FLY Leasing CEO Colm Barrington told analysts on a results call on Thursday.

“If that goes through at the end of the month, obviously, we will stay with Jet. If they can’t get that done, then we’ll take our aircraft back and redeploy.”

The airline had three relatively young Boeing Co 737-800s on lease to Jet Airways, which accounted for around 3 percent of FLY Leasing’s revenue, he said.

Jet Airways has outlined a draft to sell a majority stake to a consortium led by the State Bank of India at 1 rupee, under regulations that permit banks to convert debt to equity in a defaulting firm.

The stake sale will be followed by an equity raising, debt restructuring and the sale and leaseback of jets to help plug a $1.2 billion funding gap, but the plan needs approvals from several stakeholders, including major shareholder Etihad Airways.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore; Additional reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)

CDB Financial Scraps Purchase of 29 Boeing 737 MAX Jets

EasyJet Says Can Ride Out 9 Month Shutdown and Slow Recovery

Jet Airways Planes To Be Redeployed If Restructuring Fails

Archives