Rolls-Royce has won an order from US leasing company CIT Aerospace for Trent XWB engines to power ten Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and Trent 700 engines to power 13 Airbus A330 aircraft.

The Trent XWB engines will power ten CIT A350 aircraft that were announced in January 2013 which were in addition to five A350 XWB aircraft already on order.

Jeff Knittel, Chief Executive Officer, CIT Transportation Finance, said: “As one of the largest aircraft lessors in the world, we strive to provide our customers with the most fuel efficient, technologically advanced products. The Trent family of engines has proven to be reliable in offering high fuel and operating efficiency, and it remains in high demand among our global customer base.”

Eric Schulz, President – Civil Large Engines, Rolls-Royce, said: “CIT is a valued customer and we are delighted that it has again put its trust in our industry-leading technology. This order underscores the market-leading position of the Trent 700, and reflects our ability to deliver a Trent XWB engine that has already proven itself in test flights to be the most efficient large aero engine flying today.”

The Trent XWB, specifically designed for the Airbus A350, is the fastest selling Trent engine ever, with more than 1,200 already sold. The engine variant that will power the A350-800 and -900 was awarded European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification in February. The engine will power the first flight of the Airbus A350 XWB this year and the aircraft’s first in-service flight in 2014.

The Trent 700 is the only engine specifically designed for the Airbus A330 and more than 1,400 Trent 700 engines are either in service or on order. The engine is the market leader on the Airbus A330 and has won 70 per cent of new orders over the last four years.

Air Lease Corporation has announced long term lease agreements with Air Macau for two new Airbus A321-200 aircraft, which are scheduled for delivery in October 2014 and March 2015.
“ALC has worked closely with Air Macau’s management team since 2010 to provide fleet planning solutions that enhance their future operations. We are pleased that these two new and efficient aircraft will be a part of their long term fleet plans,” said Jie Chen, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Asia.

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) has delivered a new Boeing 737-800 to Virgin Australia. This aircraft is the first of three new 737-800s ILFC is scheduled to deliver to Virgin Australia this year. The aircraft are intended to support the strategic fleet renewal at Virgin Australia.
ILFC Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Philip G. Scruggs commented, “ILFC is honored to continue providing aircraft to Virgin Australia. We share a long-standing business partnership that dates back to the launch of the airline. We are delighted to have delivered this new B737-800 that will support the initiatives of the airline.”
This new aircraft is also the third of the total of five aircraft, which are part of a purchase leaseback agreement between ILFC and Virgin Australia. ILFC completed deliveries of the initial two aircraft in 2012.

Global lessor FLY Leasing has announced the further re-pricing of its 2012 Term Loan.  The interest rate on the amended loan will be LIBOR plus 3.50%, a 1.00% reduction from the previous interest rate. In addition, the LIBOR floor has been reduced to 1.00%, a reduction of 0.25%.

“This is the second re-pricing of our 2012 Term Loan, demonstrating our active approach to managing our capital structure. The transaction will lower FLY’s overall cost of funding, which has been steadily decreasing over the last two years. Lender support for this transaction is a testimony to FLY’s positive operating and financial performance as well as a reflection of the continuing strength of the aircraft leasing sector,” said Colm Barrington, CEO of FLY.

In conjunction with the re-pricing, FLY will pay its current Term Loan lenders a one-time prepayment fee of 1.00% of the current outstanding principal of $380 million. The transaction is anticipated to close before the end of May 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

Air Lease Corporation revenues increased 45% to $192 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to $133 million in the year-ago period. •

Income before taxes increased 48% to $62 million with a pretax margin of 32% for the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to income before taxes of $42 million with a pretax margin of 31% in the 2012 period.

During the reporting period, ALC acquired seven aircraft (including five aircraft from its order book and two incremental aircraft), growing its fleet to 162 aircraft spread across 71 airlines in 41 countries.

Asia/Pacific carriers now represent the largest regional concentration of our fleet at 39.2% based on net book value as of March 31, 2013

On May 7, 2013, ALC amended its Syndicated Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility increasing the aggregate principal amount by $607 million to $1.7 billion, reducing the interest rate to LIBOR plus a margin of 1.45% from LIBOR plus 1.75% and extending the term from three to four years. The participating bank group increased to 40 financial institutions.
Also during the reporting period, ALC issued its first Eximbond for $77 million at a fixed rate of 1.6% for 12 years and also issued a $400 million senior unsecured notes offering due in 2020 at a rate of 4.75%.

“During the first quarter we continued to execute our strategic plan for future growth, increasing our fully diluted EPS by 46% compared to Q1 of 2012. Although macro-economic indicators remain mixed, we continue to see strong global growth of passenger traffic led by the emerging markets, which drives demand for new aircraft. We see that strength continuing for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, we increased our order positions to meet that demand. Financing markets remain open and investors and institutions have been very receptive to ALC’s strong credit metrics. Our recent corporate credit rating of A- from Kroll further broadens our access to attractively priced capital,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.

“The results of our first quarter reflect ALC’s strong core leasing business that continues to yield attractive lease and operating margins. Asia/Pacific has now surpassed Europe as ALC’s largest region as measured by percentage of net book value of our fleet. We see this trend continuing. We see further pockets of opportunity emerging with quality airlines in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Our overall lease placements are tracking as expected, including placement of our recently announced orders, and we have no significant customer credit concerns,” said John L. Plueger, President and Chief Operating

AWAS has delivered the fifth of five planned Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft to SpiceJet, the dynamic and successfully growing Low Cost Carrier in India.

SpiceJet’s domestic share of market has recently climbed to around 20% and has a growing International presence in destinations in China, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Nepal. Spicejet also has visions & requisite permissions to increase their international presence in Sharjah, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and additional flights to its existing international destinations from other points from India.

AWAS has a long association, and deep depth of experience with the Indian market, dating back to 1993 and our Singapore office regional presence is a key to understanding the dynamics of the competitive landscape in the Indian subcontinent.

On 7 May 2013, Avation announced that was raising approximately £2.6m by way of an underwritten open offer. Click here for the Underwritten Open Offer Circular 2013.
Avation is offering up to 4,337,987 New Ordinary Shares at an issue price of 60 pence per share in a bid to net £2,486,733.43 to help fund its on-going Pre-Delivery Payments programme in relation to its delivery of 10 ATR72-600s in from May 2013 to December 2014.

Avation has secured a binding letter of offer from Export Development Canada, which is the export credit agency for Canada for the next four ATR 72s to be delivered in 2013. It has also secured junior and senior debt to finance these acquisitions.

The Issue Price of 60 pence per New Ordinary Share represents a discount of 15.5 pence (20.53 per cent.) to the Closing Price of 75.5 pence per Existing Ordinary Share on 3May 2013 (being the last dealing day prior to announcement of the intention to undertake the Open Offer).

The Open Offer will remain open for acceptance until 11.00 a.m. on 22 May 2013.

As part of its agreement announced in April 2013, Wizz Air has closed a sale-leaseback deal for one A320 with ICBC Leasing. Three A320s have now been financed under this deal that encompasses eight A320s in total.

Willis Lease Finance Corporation has reported earnings of $1.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013, compared to $2.5 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, in the like quarter a year ago, with the drop in earnings primarily due to reduced gains on the sale of leased equipment.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, Willis Lease recorded a loss of $0.8 million or $0.09 per diluted share, after absorbing a $2.8 million charge related to preferred share issuance costs incurred in a prior period resulting from the redemption of its Series A Preferred shares.

“The highlight of our first quarter was the $118 million, 19 engine purchase-leaseback transaction completed in March with SAS Group’s subsidiary Scandinavian Airlines,” said Charles F. Willis, Chairman and CEO. “This transaction was one of the largest and most complex engine sale and leaseback transactions ever done. We added 11 engines valued at $63 million to our lease portfolio, and a further 8 engines valued at $55 million were acquired by our joint venture, Willis Mitsui & Co Engine Support Limited. Since the engines were purchased in different tranches late in the quarter, the full quarterly impact on lease rent revenue won’t be realized until the second quarter.”

Willis added: “Our finance team is working on several projects to further improve upon our capital structure and resources going forward. Looking at the capital markets today, I don’t recall a time when I have seen more availability. I have been saying for a long time that access to capital is one of our strengths, and we intend to continue to take advantage of opportunities the market offers.”

During the first quarter, Willis Lease’s lease portfolio increased 4.6% to $1.02 billion, largely due to the SAS purchase-leaseback transaction with Scandinavian Airlines that was completed late in the quarter. Total revenues fell slightly to $35.3 million from $35.7 million a year ago, with all revenue line items increasing in the period except for gains from sale of equipment which decreased $1.9 million. Lease rent revenues increased 1.7% to $24.5 million compared to $24.1 million a year ago. Maintenance reserve revenues also increased 7.6% to $9.2 million, compared to $8.6 million a year ago. Total net finance costs increased 17% to $9.2 million, compared to $7.9 million in the year ago quarter, reflecting higher debt levels and higher average financing costs. The higher interest costs (pre-tax) were partially offset by the elimination of the quarterly $0.8 million preferred dividend (after-tax).

“Market conditions have changed little since the end of last year,” said Donald A. Nunemaker, President. “The one significant exception is the activity surrounding the CFM56-7B engine type which powers the Boeing 737NG aircraft. We are seeing a noticeable increase in demand for this engine type. Since the utilization rate for our 7B engines is already well above 90%, the heightened demand won’t necessarily allow us to put more engines on lease. It will, however, generate more opportunities to place these engines when they are returned and will likely lead to incrementally higher rents on new leases. We believe that most of this increased demand is due to a greater number of engines in operators’ fleets requiring shop visits. Perhaps this is one of the first tangible signs of the “bow wave” of shop visits that has been the subject of industry predictions for this engine type for the last five years.”

At March 31, 2013, Willis Lease had 193 commercial aircraft engines, 3 aircraft parts packages and 7 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $1.02 billion, compared to 193 commercial aircraft engines, 3 aircraft parts packages and 12 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $974.3 million a year ago. The Company’s funded debt-to-equity is 3.75 to 1 at quarter end, compared to 3.49 to 1 at December 31, 2012 and 2.96 to 1 a year ago, with the increase primarily due to the $31.9 million equity reduction resulting from the preferred share redemption in October 2012.

Air Lease Corporation (ALC) and Corendon Airlines (Turkey) have signed a five-year lease agreement for one Boeing 737-800 (MSN 32920) aircraft, delivering in February 2013.
Corendon Airlines is a regional carrier operating 30 routes out of Antalya Airport, Turkey. Corendon has experienced significant annual passenger growth since the airline’s inception in 2005.
“ALC is pleased to announce our first aircraft placement with Corendon Airlines, which is a new addition to our expanding global customer base. We will continue to support Corendon as they grow their business with modern, fuel efficient aircraft,” said Alex Khatibi, Executive Vice President of Air Lease Corporation.
“This agreement is not only a step in our 2013 fleet expansion project, but also a start of the relationship with ALC, a prominent aircraft leasing company,” said Yildiray Karaer, Chief Executive Officer of Corendon Airlines.