Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) is set to resume deliveries of aircraft to HNA Group affiliated units, Reuters has reported. Two A330 Family units and a single A320 Family jet are expected to deliver to the Chinese holding shortly.
The European manufacturer halted deliveries to HNA Group earlier this year due to late payments totalling up to USD1 billion. While Airbus itself never officially confirmed the problems, it is thought that more than a dozen aircraft, mostly A330s, were affected by the delays.
Sources told Reuters that while the deliveries might resume shortly, the settlement of the debt could still take months.
In order to raise more cash, the debt-laden HNA Group is currently pursuing an aggressive divestment campaign - having first spent some USD50 billion in global acquisitions over the last few years.
Corporate Jet Investor has reported that HNA Group has earmarked business charter specialists Deer Jet Beijing (BDJ, Beijing Capital) and Deer Jet Shanghai (DER, Shanghai Hongqiao) for sale. It initially hoped to sell the entire Chinese bizjet operations for some CNY3 billion yuans (USD430 million) but has since decided to split the airlines into smaller units and sell the fleet and the Fixed Base Operators separately.
HNA Group is also reportedly evaluating the sale of Deer Jet's subsidiary Hongkong Jet (Hong Kong International), including its units BAS Guernsey (Guernsey) and Asia Jet (Hong Kong International).
The Chinese group has also sold parts of its stake at Urumqi Air (UQ, Urumqi) and Avolon and is planning to completely divest from its fully-owned subsidiary Lucky Air (China) (8L, Dali). The group is also selling its multiple non-aviation assets, ranging from real estate to minority stakes in Hilton and Deutsche Bank
