AELF - Aircraft Engine Lease Finance has secured a USD40 million credit facility with Merchants Bank of Indiana as the Chicago-based lessor looks to expand its B737-800 portfolio and take advantage of current market opportunities.
The credit facility is collateralised, in part, by four of the company’s ten A330-200s, which AELF acquired from Airbus Asset Management in 2016 and 2017. The aircraft are on long-term operating leases with Canada’s Air Transat (TS, Montréal Trudeau). In addition to the A330-200s, the company owns B737-800s which it sees as the growth area for its business.
"As the company now seeks to grow and build out its narrowbody business, financing relationships like those with Merchants Bank and other aviation lenders will play a key role,” AELF board member Philip Scruggs commented in a statement.
The lessor has maintained a relationship with Merchants Bank since 2018 and was the bank’s first business customer in the commercial aviation industry.
