29 Mar 2021

North American Newsletter 29 March

Air Lease Corporation Announces Lease Placement of Airbus A320-200 Aircraft with HiSky Moldova Air Lease Corporation announced a long-term lease placement for one used Airbus A320-200 aircraft with HiSky Moldova.  Scheduled to deliver in April 2021, this is ALC’s third Airbus A320 family aircraft placement with the Moldovan startup airline. Senior Vice President of Air Lease Corporation David Beker said “We are pleased to announce this agreement to deliver our third Airbus A320 family aircraft to HiSky. This young A320 will be joining HiSky’s all-ALC leased fleet of A319/A320 aircraft.  Our team is honored that the leadership of HiSky has chosen to collaborate exclusively with ALC to launch their airline this year under challenging circumstances and we believe HiSky is well positioned for long-term growth and success.” American Airlines Prepays Secured Loan From U.S. Department of the Treasury, Terminates Loan Agreement American Airlines closed its previously announced $10 billion financing backed by the AAdvantage® program and used a portion of the proceeds to prepay its secured loan from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In doing so, American has terminated its loan commitments under the secured loan agreement. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act established a $25 billion secured lending facility for U.S. airlines in response to the global pandemic. American was allocated $7.5 billion through the loan program, with the AAdvantage program pledged as collateral. The term of the loans under the facility was approximately five years. American borrowed $550 million of the facility in September 2020 and, per the terms of the loan program, issued to the Treasury Department warrants to purchase up to 4,396,483 shares of American’s common stock at $12.51 per share. As of today, American has prepaid the $550 million and terminated the loan agreement. CMA CGM AIR CARGO opens two new destinations in the United States Three weeks after the launch of its commercial operations, CMA CGM AIR CARGO is opening two new regular destinations from Liege in the United States: New York (JFK) and Atlanta. Th new specialist air freight division is deploying four Airbus A330-200F aircraft. Falko Regional Aircraft Limited adds three (3) Embraer E175 aircraft to its portfolio on lease to Republic Airways Falko Regional Aircraft Limited (Falko) announced that it has completed the acquisition of three (3) Embraer E175 aircraft. The aircraft have been acquired from Aerocentury Corp. and are currently on lease to Republic Airways where they will remain in service for American Airlines under the existing lease contract.  The acquisition has been funded by the Falko Regional Aircraft Opportunities Fund II, which closed in June 2019 with total equity commitments of $650m. GA Telesis Announces the Delivery of First Boeing 737-800SF Freighter Conversion to Ethiopian Airlines GA Telesis announced the delivery of its first 737-800SF (MSN 32903) passenger-to-freighter (“P2F”) conversion to Ethiopian Airlines. The aircraft was delivered from Aeronautical Engineering, Inc. (“AEI”) authorized Conversion Center, Commercial Jet, in Miami. A second 737-800 (MSN 28826) contracted with AEI is currently undergoing the P2F conversion, with delivery expected in May 2021. Sun Country Airlines Announces Repayment of CARES Act Loan Sun Country Airlines announced the repayment of a U.S. Treasury loan it received through the CARES Act. Sun Country Airlines closed its initial public offering on 19 March. Proceeds from that offering were used to repay the loan. Sun Country Airlines President and CFO Dave Davis said “We appreciate the support from the U.S. Government which helped provide stability for our customers and our employees during the pandemic, and we are pleased to be in a position to repay this loan so quickly.” Acumen Aviation © 29 March 2021 All Rights Reserved.