Garuda Indonesia and ICBC Financial Leasing sign agreement for aircraft financing

JAKARTA - The agreement was signed by Garuda Indonesia President & CEO, Emirsyah Satar and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Limited Senior Executive Vice President, Zhang Hongli, and was witnessed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, during the "Indonesia - China Business Luncheon" at Shangri-la Hotel, Jakarta.

The financing agreement features a "sale and lease back" plan for Garuda Indonesia's five Boeing 777-300ER and an "operating lease" plan for ICBC Financial Leasing's six Airbus 320-200 for Citilink, valued at USD 1.7 billion.

Garuda Indonesia will receive the five Boeing 777-300ER in May 2014 through September 2015, while the six Airbus 320-200 will join the Citilink fleet in June through December 2014.

Garuda Indonesia President and CEO Emirsyah Satar expressed his thanks and appreciation to ICBC Limited for their trust in Garuda Indonesia and said that the signing of this agreement is an important milestone in the airline's transformations, particularly in term of its continuous fleet development program. "The operation of the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft is in line with our "Quantum Leap 2011-2015" program, in particular fleet expansion to increase international network as Garuda Indonesia establishes itself as a Global Player" added Emir.

ICBC Financial Leasing CEO, Cong Lin said that ICBC Financial Leasing is indeed proud to be a part of Garuda Indonesia's development. "We are pleased to help Indonesia's biggest airline and the pride of the nation, to continue expanding its network and aim for world-class airline " he added.

The Boeing 777-300ER will serve the following routes: Denpasar - Japan, Denpasar - Korea, Denpasar - China, and Denpasar - Sydney. In addition, in 2014 the aircraft will operate on the Jakarta - London service , and fly Jakarta - Amsterdam in 2015.

Meanwhile, Citilink operates Airbus 320-200 on domestic services to Surabaya, Medan, Denpasar, and other regions in Indonesia as part of efforts to enhance connectivity with the Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia's Economic Development (MP3EI) program. The rest of its fleet will also be used to serve regional routes such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Perth in order to atract more tourists to Indonesia.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews