Alaska Airlines to Lease 13 New 737-9 MAX Aircraft in Modernization Bid
November 23 2020 - 1:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Kimberly Chin
Alaska Air Group Inc. said it will lease 13 new Boeing Co. 737-9
MAX aircraft and sell 10 Airbus A320s to Air Lease Corp., in a move
that will help modernize its mainline fleet.
The carrier will receive the leased aircraft starting in the
fourth quarter of 2021 through 2022, the company said. The 737-9
MAX aircraft are 20% more fuel efficient, have 20% less carbon
emissions per seat and can fly farther than the A320s, the company
said.
Alaska Airlines' parent expects to begin flying the 737-9 MAX in
March.
It will also lease back the A320s from Air Lease for a short
period of time after the deal closes in order to align with its
fleet modernization plan, the company said.
"We found an opportunity to sell 10 planes that are not in our
long-term plans and replace them with 13 of the most efficient
narrow-body aircraft available," Alaska Air Chairman and Chief
Executive Brad Tilden said.
The new leased aircraft are in addition to 32 MAX aircraft the
company has currently ordered from Boeing.
With the transaction, some of Alaska Air's debt that was
previously collateralized by the 10 Airbus A320s was prepaid, the
company said in a securities filing. The prepaid debt, associated
fees, as well as sales proceeds, were about $272 million. The
company has excluded that figure from cash burn projections in the
fourth quarter, it said in the filing.
Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2020 12:56 ET (17:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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