Standard Chartered Aviation Finance has purchased six Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Arctic Aviation Assets (Arctic), the asset management subsidiary of European low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian), and also the execution of leases for all six aircraft on long term operating lease with Turkish Airlines, the Turkish flag carrier. The first aircraft was acquired from Arctic and immediately delivered on lease to Turkish Airlines in November 2019, with the remaining aircraft scheduled to close by early 2020.
Standard Chartered has recently closed Aircraft Finance Insurance Consortium (AFIC) wrapped financings with both Turkish Airlines and Norwegian, together with sale and leaseback transactions with both airlines.
“This transaction stands as testimony to the strength of our relationship with both airlines, and also the depth of expertise we have in the Standard Chartered Aviation Finance team to be able to execute such a complex transaction with two leading European airlines in a short space of time,” says Kieran Corr, Global Head of Aviation Finance, Standard Chartered. “We have been fortunate to do significant volumes of business with both Norwegian and Turkish Airlines recently, and we are grateful to both clients for their trust in working with us on this new transaction”.
Tore Jenssen, CEO of Arctic added: “Our aircraft sales programme is a key component of delivering on Norwegian’s strategy of moving from growth to profitability. We are very pleased to have further expanded our aircraft trading relationship with the team at Standard Chartered Aviation Finance, with whom we have now executed a total of 12 aircraft sales since late 2018.”