Emirates has signed a lease financing agreement valued at €195 million for two new Airbus A340-500s long-range aircraft. The Dubai-based airline will be the first to offer non-stop services to Sydney, Melbourne and New York, among a number of longhaul routes.
The first A340-500 was delivered to the airline this week, and three more are due to arrive in November. Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 500 series engines, they form part of a total of eight Airbus A340-500s for which Emirates has placed firm orders.
The financing, structured as a euro operating lease over a 12-year term, was arranged by Crédit Agricole Indosuez combining export credit and commercial debt provided by Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, Lloyds TSB Bank, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and Emirates Bank International, as well as Crédit Agricole Indosuez itself.
The export credit debt is guaranteed by the UK's Export Credit Guarantee Department and its respective German and French counterparts HERMES and COFACE. The weighted average cost of funds was 0.8 percent over Euro Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Euribor).
Emirates currently has 55 modern Boeing and Airbus jets in service -- 29 Airbus A330-200s, 12 Boeing 777-300s, nine Boeing 777-200s, one Airbus A340-500, one Airbus A310 and three Boeing 747 freighters. The airline serves 71 cities in 50 countries in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
