Airlines face financing hurdle
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Airlines that need loans next year to buy planes will face difficulties amid a deepening credit crisis, according to aircraft financiers quoted in a Bloomberg report.
Carriers generally secure bank financing or other loans two to six months before planes are handed over, so the global banking crisis hasn’t affected current deliveries, several airline specialists were quoted saying at a conference in Prague. But this would change early next year as carriers face higher interest rates or the prospect of being refused loans, the report said.
“It’s going to be difficult for airlines and lessors to get financing because the usual funding from capital markets is closed,” Bertrand Grabowski, a Managing Director of Frankfurt-based DBV Bank was quoted saying. The bank has about US$5 billion in loans to airlines and leasing companies.
Financing difficulties could drive airline consolidation as weaker carriers fail or are bought when they can’t buy more planes, DBV’s Grabowski added.
The largest airliner manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, might have to increase lending programmes offered when planes are ordered, he was quoted saying.
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