SunExpress Purchases First Boeing Aircraft Backed by Ex Im Bank
WASHINGTON, D.C. - SunExpress, an airline based in Antalya, Turkey, is using financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) for the purchase of several Boeing 737-800 aircraft with engines manufactured by CFM International Inc.
Ex-Im Bank is guaranteeing approximately $220 million of financing provided by Toronto-Dominion Bank of Mount Laurel, N.J. The transaction is Ex-Im Bank's first for SunExpress, which was created as a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa in 1989.
Ex-Im Bank is pleased to support SunExpress's fleet expansion with B737-800 aircraft. This transaction will help maintain jobs at Boeing and CFM and their suppliers across the country. We want to assist more U.S. exporters in this key emerging market, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.
SunExpress CEO Paul Schwaiger said, For the first time in SunExpress's 20-year history, we applied to Ex-Im Bank for their very attractive financing. All of us at SunExpress are excited about the successful outcome of this transaction. We are particularly pleased with the supportive and friendly nature of this new cooperation with Ex-Im Bank, which has definitely added to our confidence, as manifested in our growth strategy.
SunExpress began as a small charter operation and has grown into a more extensive operation, offering both charter and scheduled service to and from Europe and within Turkey.
Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal-government agency, exists to fill gaps in export financing, strengthen U.S. export competitiveness, and create and maintain U.S. jobs. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees to help small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, export-credit insurance to protect against nonpayment by foreign buyers, and loan guarantees and direct loans to assist foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services.
In fiscal 2009, overall Ex-Im Bank financing totaled $21 billion, and authorizations supporting exports of large U.S.-manufactured commercial aircraft reached a historic high of $8.6 billion. In the first half of fiscal 2010, the Bank authorized $13.2 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance - more than twice the amount authorized in the same period in fiscal 2009. For more information, see Ex-Im Bank's Web site at www.exim.gov.