Wed, Nov 30, 2005
Manufacturer Aided In Merger Financing
Airbus SAS announced
Tuesday that US Airways Group Inc. has ordered 20 of its new A350
aircraft, fulfilling a promise the airline made with the European
consortium in exchange for Airbus's help in completing the
financing arrangements for the airline's acquisition by America
West Airlines.
Financial terms were not disclosed. While the planes would be
worth an estimated $4 billion at list prices, it's likely US
Airways received a discount for the fleet purchase, according to
the Associated Press.
As was previously reported in
Aero-News, earlier this year Airbus provided
approximately $250 million in financing to aid America West
Holdings Corp. in its purchase of US Airways.
In a deal that struck some as a "tit-for-tat" arrangement, the
newly-merged airline then agreed to buy an unspecified amount of
A350s, the main competitor to the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" that is
expected to debut two years before the Airbus' 2010 launch
date.
The new aircraft will be used to replace US Airways' current
fleet of trans-Atlantic Boeing 767s and Airbus A330s, beginning in
2011, according to US Airways spokesman Carlo Bertolini. However,
some say the number of A350s ordered seems excessive, as US Airways
currently flies to only about a dozen European cities -- mostly
from Philadelphia and Charlotte, NC.
The 253-passenger A350 (above) "seems like too much of an
airplane for their route system," said analyst Ray Neidl of Calyon
Securities, although he expects US Airways management (most of
which came from America West) to compensate.
"Maybe they took the aircraft for the financing," said Neidl,
"but they're pretty astute."
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