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."

FMI: www.airbus.com. www.usairways.com