BOC Aviation reported a strong start to 2020 with signing agreements to purchase 48 aircraft, of which 38 have already been placed on long-term leases with the remaining 10 unplaced A320NEO due to be delivered in 2023-4.
“We have placed all aircraft that are expected to be delivered in 2020 and continue to be disciplined in our aircraft investment approach,” said Robert Martin, managing chief executive Officer, said.
“We are pleased to announce an excellent start to 2020. These incremental aircraft investments speak to the strength of our balance sheet with US$3.6 billion of liquidity available as at 31 March 2020. Our A- credit ratings were recently re-affirmed by Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings. Our strong balance sheet allows us to continue working with customers in a difficult environment.
We closed the first quarter with a total portfolio of 567 aircraft comprised of 323 owned, 40 managed and 204 on-order aircraft, our largest ever. Our owned portfolio remains one of the youngest in the industry with an average fleet age of 3.4 years and long average remaining lease term of 8.5 years. We have achieved a 100% utilisation rate and 94% collection rate for the first quarter,” said Martin.
Phang Thim Fatt, chief financial officer, added, “During the first quarter, we raised an additional US$1.3 billion in financing from the loan and bond markets and we repaid more than US$950 million of bonds on schedule under our Global Medium Term Note (“GMTN”) program.
We also increased the limit of our GMTN program to U$15 billion from U$10 billion, which provides us with the flexibility to continue accessing the debt capital markets for our future funding needs and supports the growth of our business. We continued to access new loan financings in the first quarter and are well-supported by more than 70 banks globally.”