China Aircraft Leasing Group (CALC) has announced the second delivery of a new A320 aircraft to Air India. The aircraft was delivered at the facilities of Airbus in Hamburg, Germany on 9 July 2015.
This is the second aircraft delivered under a 12-year operating lease agreement between CALC and Air India for five aircraft. The first delivery was completed on 3 February 2015. CALC shall deliver the remaining of A320 aircraft to Air India by the end of 2015 as duly integrated with Air India’s fleet optimization program on its current A320/A319 fleet. The delivered A320 aircraft, configured with maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 77 tons and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) Authorization Required (AR), is equipped with Sharklets, 2.4-meter tall new wingtip devices, which enhance the fuel-efficiency and payload-range performance of the A320-family resulting in up to 4% lower fuel burn over longer sectors. Light-weight Dragonfly Z85 cabin seats are installed in this new delivered A320 aircraft.
The delivered aircraft is financed via the support of the Export Credit Agencies (ECAs). This is the second aircraft financing for CALC backed by a guarantee issued by UK Export Finance (as fronting ECA). Among the transaction parties, Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank (CA-CIB) acts as the ECA financing advisor to the Group, Vedder Price as the transaction counsel representing the Group, TD Bank as the lender and TD Securities as co-arranger; ING Capital is the co-arranger and facility agent, Wilmington Trust SP Services (Dublin) is the security trustee and Watson Farley & Williams is the transaction counsel representing the ECAs, the lender and the facility agent.
Christian Mc Cormick, Managing Director – Finance of CALC, said: “We are pleased to have obtained our second ECA financing. Repeated financing cooperation with the ECAs is confirmation of established trust in our credit status and recognition by these important international credit agencies. ECA financing is an important international financing alternative for our global business expansion strategies. We have laid a good start with Air India, and are looking forward to expanding such alternatives even more with our overseas clients in the future. The ECA-guaranteed arrangement enhances the Group’s competitiveness and geographical coverage. We would like to thank the three ECAs for their unfailing support, and all the professional parties involved in the Air India aircraft financing project. We look forward to expanding our financing portfolio with the ECAs going forward.”