The Paris Air Show thus far has been impressive all round although many announcements are MOUs or LOIs, as such all will be watching to see if these are converted. The Volga-Dnepr group 20 747-8 MOU would be the most impressive order of the show if converted. But as this MOU from a Russian operator comes through we must not lose sight of the fact that Aeroflot cancelled its firm order for 22 787s this week.
Away from the air show United has swapped their slots at New York’s JFK for EWR with Delta, this will represent a capacity reduction for United. Also this week the Element ABS deal was priced. At $1.2bn Element Aviation ECAF I, Series 2015-1 is the biggest Aircraft ABS deal since the market re-opened after the financial crisis.
Deutsche Bank is lead on the deal with joint lead managers BNP Paribas and Citi. Co-managers on the deal are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Canada.
The 144A Reg S deal is split into three tranches. The A tranche is split into two: the $459.375 million of A1 notes are rated A by Standard & Poor’s and A- by Fitch, with a 3.57 year weighted average life (WAL), which yield 3.500% with a coupon of 3.473%. The $590.625 million A2 notes have a 6.97 year WAL with a yield of 5% and a coupon of 4.947%. The B1 notes, totalling $160 million, have a 5.49 year WAL with a yield of 5.875% and a coupon of 5.802%.
The notes are secured on 49 commercial passenger aircraft and associated leases, with BBAM Aviation Services as the servicer. Full details on the structure were reported here on May 20.