Airbus A220-300s On Sale-Leaseback To airBaltic

Chorus Aviation Capital ('CAC') has entered into a sale-leaseback agreement with airBaltic of Latvia to acquire five new Airbus A220-300 aircraft marking the addition of this new aircraft type to the CAC product offering.

This transaction brings its customer base to 15 airlines on six continents. Two deliveries are anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2019 with the balance to be completed by the end of the third quarter in 2020.

"We are very pleased to welcome Latvia's flag carrier, airBaltic to our family of airlines, and to introduce the Airbus A220 aircraft to our product offering," said Steve Ridolfi, President, Chorus Aviation Capital. "To date, we've grown our leasing portfolio to 601 aircraft acquired at approximately $1.3 billion with approximately $925.0 million in future contract lease revenue. The pipeline of opportunities remains strong."  

"The growth momentum in our leasing business continues. The economics and passenger comfort of the A220 aircraft is a great fit with our integrated aviation services strategy, and we're excited to add Airbus to our list of world-class aircraft manufacturers," commented Joe Randell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chorus. "We've been conducting heavy maintenance work on Dash 8-400s operated by airBaltic and I'm pleased we've broadened our relationship to now include aircraft leasing.  This clearly demonstrates the broad scope of services we can offer to airlines around the world.  I applaud the Chorus team for reaching another milestone and for embracing our vision to become a worldwide provider of integrated regional aviation services."

"We are delighted to have Chorus Aviation Capital as one of airBaltic's valued partners supporting our Airbus A220-300 fleet modernization. This is another successful A220-300 sale and leaseback transaction that we have closed with great support from Skytech-AIC," said Vitolds Jakovlevs, Chief Financial Officer of airBaltic.

Upon the completion of this transaction, and one other aircraft pending delivery to other customers, CAC's portfolio will include 43 turboprops and 17 regional jets. When combined with the planned aircraft leased under the Capacity Purchase Agreement with Air Canada, Chorus' fleet of leased aircraft will reach 131 aircraft valued at approximately $2.2 billion.

(Source: Chorus Aviation news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.chorusaviation.com