flydubai Secures More Than Three Quarters of a Billion Dollars of Aircraft Financing

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, September 22nd 2010 [ME NewsWire]:

flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, has announced aircraft financing worth more than US$750m in deals with GECAS (General Electric Capital Aviation Services) and BBAM.

The financing will take care of the next nine aircraft flydubai is due to receive and secures all the airline’s financing requirements until June 2011.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, said: “I am delighted to be able to announce this aircraft financing today. These deals are very significant for flydubai because this committed money secures the next nine aircraft we are due to receive and mean all our financing requirements until June next year are taken care of.

“We already have agreements in place with both GECAS and BBAM and it is clear from their willingness to enter into further ties with us that they have been pleased with what flydubai has delivered so far. These are some of the largest aircraft financers in the world and their faith in flydubai is a huge endorsement of us and our success since our launch.

“When we went out to the markets this time to seek financing for our aircraft we were overwhelmed by the response. At the end of the day we received offers for far more aircraft than we needed to finance, which is a very nice position for a young and ambitious airline to be in. I believe this is a reflection not only of our position but also of the confidence the financial community around the world has in Dubai.”

Both deals are eight year term sale and leaseback agreements. The agreement with GECAS is for six aircraft, taking the total number of flydubai aircraft GECAS finances to 10. BBAM are adding another three aircraft to make their total commitment six.

Norm C. T. Liu, President and CEO of GECAS, said: “During its first 15 months of operations, flydubai has worked to build a solid foundation for future growth. GECAS is pleased to continue our partnership with this rapidly expanding airline, and provide the financial support they need to continue their impressive growth.”

Steve Zissis, President of BBAM, said: “We signed our first financing deal with flydubai at the same time the airline announced its historic aircraft order for more than 50 Boeing 737-800NGs at Farnborough in July 2008. We’re very pleased to be able to strengthen our relationship with flydubai and look forward to many more years of partnership. Our partnership with flydubai is an excellent example of BBAM’s expansive global footprint and ability to provide solutions for airlines in every stage of development.”

flydubai began commercial flights on June 1, 2009. Since then the airline has grown to a fleet of nine B737-800NG aircraft operating to 22 destinations within a five hour flight radius of Dubai. Four more aircraft are due to be received before the end of this calendar year. These will be the new Boeing Sky Interior 737-800NG and will be fitted with the revolutionary new type of in-flight entertainment system from Lumexis that the airline announced earlier this year.

About flydubai:

flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, was established by the Government of Dubai in March 2008 and began commercial flights on June 1st, 2009. flydubai aims to make travel a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expensive, and thereby increase the number of people travelling to and from the UAE.

flydubai currently has a fleet of nine brand new Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft and operates to 22 destinations: Beirut-Lebanon, Amman-Jordan, Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia-Syria, Alexandria, Luxor and Assiut-Egypt, Djibouti, Doha-Qatar, Baku-Azerbaijan, Khartoum-Sudan, Bahrain, Kathmandu-Nepal, Muscat-Oman, Kabul-Afghanistan, Kuwait, Lucknow-India, Istanbul-Turkey, Karachi-Pakistan, Colombo-Sri Lanka and Erbil-Iraq. Flights to Yekaterinburg and Samara-Russia will start in October, bringing the airline’s network to 24 destinations.

About GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS):

GECAS, the U.S. and Irish commercial aircraft financing and leasing business of GE, has a fleet of 1,500+ owned aircraft with approximately 250 airlines in over 70 countries, and it manages over 325 aircraft for others. GECAS offers a wide range of aircraft types and financing options, including operating leases and secured debt financing, and also provides productivity solutions including spare engine leasing, spare parts financing and management. GECAS, a unit of GE Capital, has offices in 24 cities around the world. 

GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.

About BBAM

BBAM LLC (formerly known as Babcock and Brown Aircraft Management) is the world’s third largest manager of leased commercial aircraft. BBAM manages over 380 aircraft with a value in excess of $11 billion. BBAM has more than 20 years of experience in aircraft origination and disposition, remarketing, leasing and technical management. BBAM LLC is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Dublin, London, Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo.

Photo Captions:

Image 1:

Senior members of the teams involved in brokering the financing deal which will see finance for flydubai’s next nine aircraft taken care of. The agreement ensures all of the airline’s financing requirements are secured until June 2011. Front row from left: Steve Zissis, President of BBAM; Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai; Mick O’Mahony, Senior Vice President Marketing, GECAS. Back row from left: Rakesh Raj, flydubai; Phil Coppeard and John Lynch, BBAM; Neil Mills, flydubai CFO; and Rajendra Kandari, flydubai.

Image 2:

flydubai has reached the major finance agreement with GECAS and BBAM, two major players in seeing flydubai’s phenomenal growth continue in 2011. From left to right: Steve Zissis, President of BBAM; Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai; and Mick O’Mahony, Senior Vice President Marketing of GECAS.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Anne Howard or Andrew Kennedy at the flydubai press office at Polaris PR. Telephone: (+9714) 341 5555. a.howard@polaris-me.com  a.kennedy@polaris-me.com Heather Redpath, PR Manager for flydubai Mobile: (+971) 50 9508420; Email: heather.redpath@flydubai.com