Tiger Airways Secures ECA Backing for 9 Airbus

Tiger Airways and Standard Chartered Bank have obtained approval from the French Export Credit Agency (ECA), Coface, to support the purchase of nine Airbus 320 aircraft.

The nine aircraft are scheduled to be delivered over the next 6 months and will bring the total number of aircraft owned by Tiger Airways to eleven.

Tiger Airways obtained its first ECA-backed financing with Coface for two Airbus 320 aircraft which were delivered in January and February 2010 for which Standard Chartered Bank was also the Mandated Lead Arranger.

From now till March 2011, which is the end of its current financial year, Tiger Airways will also return two older aircraft that are currently leased. This means that it will be operating a fleet of 26 aircraft, of which 11 (42%) will be owned with the remainder on operating leases.

Tony Davis, President and Group CEO of Tiger Airways Holdings, said, ?We are grateful to Coface for continuing to provide strong support to Tiger Airways. We also thank Standard Chartered for helping Tiger Airways secure even more cost effective aircraft financing deals, which will enable us to reduce our costs and fares even further. As we continue to expand our fleet we also look forward to realising economies of scale in other aspects of our business.?

Standard Chartered Bank is mandated as the Lead Arranger for the ECA financing relating to these aircraft. The transaction is currently in the documentation phase and is expected to close upon delivery of each aircraft.

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