Emirates Airline Gets Dh411m to Buy New A340-500 Aircraft
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| Emirates Airline |
Dubai: Emirates airline has signed a £62 million (Dh411 million or $115 million) financing agreement with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and Gulf International Bank (GIB) for its seventh Airbus A340-500 aircraft.
This is the first aircraft to be funded by the two well known regional banks, signalling a strong vote of confidence in Emirates.
Emirates' latest A340-500, the world's longest-range aircraft, is scheduled to be delivered before the end of this month. It will be followed by another three for a total of 10 Airbus A340-500s ordered by the airline.
The financing, structured as a sterling operating lease over a 12-year term, was lead arranged and funded fully by NBAD and GIB. The weighted average cost of funds was 0.9 per cent over six-month sterling Libor.
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| Emirates Airline |
Riyaz Peermohammad, Emirates senior vice president for corporate treasury, said: "We are very pleased to see this first time participation in Emirates funding by these two highly regarded Abu Dhabi- and Bahrain-based banks. This also supports our policy of opening up new, diversified sources of financing for Emirates.
"We continue to follow a balanced portfolio approach towards hedging our currency risks. This is the fifth aircraft to be financed in sterling and the 12th to be financed in a currency other than US dollars. The sterling lease rentals will create a natural hedge to some of our inflows from the United Kingdom."
Emirates already has 71 Boeing and Airbus jets, including 29 Airbus A330-200s, 12 Boeing 777-300s, nine Boeing 777-200s, six Airbus 340-500s, eight A340-300s, one Airbus A310 and six Boeing 747 freighters.
The airline, serving 77 cities in 54 countries, recently said it will start passenger services to Seychelles, Seoul, Hamburg and Geneva in 2005.
Its order book includes 45 Airbus A380-800s, 30 Boeing 777-300ERs plus nine options, three more ultra-long-range Airbus A340-500s and 20 Airbus A340-600 higher gross weight aircraft, amounting to a total of $28 billion.
By 2012, Emirates expects to have twice as many jets in its fleet as it does today.
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