Norwegian Air to jointly own Airbus fleet with China Construction Bank

OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (OL:) has struck a deal with China’s CCB Leasing to take joint ownership of a large fleet of aircraft that the budget carrier has ordered from Airbus (PA:), Oslo-listed Norwegian said on Thursday.

The cash-strapped carrier has for months said it aimed to find a partner to help take ownership of the Airbus fleet, thus allowing Norwegian to boost its finances.

CCB Leasing Corporation DAC (CCBLI), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction Bank Corp (SS:), will own 70% of the joint venture, while Norwegian Air’s Arctic Aviation unit will own the remaining 30%.

“Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will purchase from Arctic an initial 27 Airbus A320 NEO aircraft to be delivered from 2020 to 2023,” Norwegian said.

“In addition to a positive equity effect, the joint venture will reduce Norwegian’s committed capital expenditure by approximately $1.5 billion based on the initial 27 aircraft,” the company said.

“This agreement will contribute significantly to reducing our current and future capital expenditure,” acting Norwegian Air CEO Geir Karlsen said in a statement.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.