Singapore lessor Avation said that statements over the weekend by Virgin Australia’s new owners suggested that the recapitalised airline would require five ATR72-600s in order to meet the requirements of its outlined route network.
“Over the weekend Bain Capital released a statement advising that they would be seeking to support the regional network which provides strong passenger feed for the key trunk routes that will form the core of the re-capitalised Virgin Australia. This suggests a need for the five ATR72-600 aircraft on lease the airline in the new version of the airline.
Earlier this month Avation reported that it had already re-leased a number of aircraft that had been with the insolvent carrier.
The news came in a release on the firm’s financial statements for the 9 months ended 31 March 2020 which show Avation to be “in a strong financial position”, with a cash position of $131.6 million
“We also note that we are seeing significant returns to service of some of our major airline customers (VietJet, AirBaltic, EVA Air and Mandarin Airlines) which together represent over 60% of Avation’s unearned contracted lease revenue,” the firm said in the statement.