Aircastle has reported first quarter 2015 net income of $43.3 million, or $0.53 per diluted common share and adjusted net income of $50.5 million, or $0.62 per diluted common share. The first quarter results included total revenues of $194.3 million, an increase of 10%, versus $176.6 million in the first quarter of 2014.
Commenting on the results, Ron Wainshal, Aircastle's CEO, stated: "We're off to a strong start in 2015 as earnings and cash returns increased. We are finding attractive investments by delivering more unique and value-additive transactions to our customers, and so far this year we closed or committed to close $770 million in acquisitions. We continue to improve our portfolio quality, increased our average lease term to 5.6 years and secured new operators for all of the aircraft we removed from Russia over the past several months. During the first quarter, we further strengthened our funding capacity and flexibility by issuing $500 million of new unsecured notes and enlarging our revolving credit facility to $600 million."
Wainshal continued: "Market conditions remain solid and, as a consequence, more investors are being drawn to our sector. We are capitalizing on this through our asset sales and capital market initiatives, yet we also remain optimistic about our ability to grow profitably by leveraging our differentiated business approach and our team strengths."
Total revenues were $194.3 million, an increase of $17.7 million, or 10%, from the previous year, driven by higher maintenance revenues of $15.0 million. During the first quarter of 2014, Aircastle recorded $16.4 million of contra maintenance revenue in connection with engine restoration work completed by a lessee prior to the scheduled return of three aircraft.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $190.2 million, up $20.2 million, or 12% from the first quarter of 2014, due primarily to higher maintenance revenues of $15.0 million and higher gains from aircraft sales of $5.1 million.
Adjusted net income for the quarter was $50.5 million, up $37.2 million year over year. The increase was due primarily to higher total revenues of $17.7 million and lower non-cash aircraft impairment charges of $18.3 million.
During the first quarter of 2015, Aircastle acquired six aircraft for $254 million and are currently committed to acquire an additional 19 aircraft for $515 million. The aircraft acquired during the first quarter had a weighted average age of less than two years and are on long term leases.
Also during the first quarter of 2015, Aircastle completed the profitable sale of two aircraft leased to an airline based in India and other flight equipment for a total of $50.5 million.
As of March 31, 2015, the lessor owned 152 aircraft having a net book value of $5.8 billion. It also manages five aircraft with a net book value of approximately $500 million dollars on behalf of our joint venture with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
During the first quarter of 2015, Aircastle issued $500 million in unsecured Senior Notes due 2022 bearing a coupon of 5.50% at par, and further increased the size of its unsecured revolving credit facility to $600 million. In doing so, Aircastle maintained the weighted average maturity of our debt at 4.4 years, enhanced our financial flexibility and obtained capital to fund recent acquisitions.
On May 4, 2015, Aircastle's Board of Directors declared a second quarter 2015 cash dividend on its common shares of $0.22 per share, payable on June 15, 2015 to shareholders of record on May 29, 2015. This is its 36th consecutive dividend.