Atlas Air has secured financing for the purchase of three Boeing 747-400 freighters to support e-commerce customers.
The airline secured $90m of senior debt financing from Investec Aviation Finance for the acquisition of the three aircraft.
The freighters are fundamental to the carrier’s strategy of “supporting key supply chains globally in a growing e-commerce marketplace”.
Atlas Air executive vice president and chief financial officer Artem Gonopolskiy said: “The 747-400F forms an integral part of Atlas’ dedicated large widebody freighter capacity, and the acquisition of these aircraft demonstrates our commitment to providing unparalleled support for global supply chains.”
Investec said it had structured and underwritten the transaction within a month.
“In doing so, Investec was able to apply its deep understanding of the market to meet challenging timelines for a large, syndicated facility against specialist aircraft collateral,” the company said in a press release.
Clayton Woollgar of Investec Aviation Finance added: “The success of the transaction highlights our own leading capabilities in finding pragmatic solutions and structuring for all transaction types.”
The addition of extra aircraft comes as Atlas earlier this year said it would focus on the international widebody sector.
As part of this focus, the carrier will exit domestic 737 and 767 operations on behalf of Amazon.
“With the Amazon CMI service ending in mid-2025, we will reallocate resources to expand our investments in global, long-haul service with widebody aircraft,” Atlas Air said back in May.
“The widebody market is where we continue to see the strongest demand from our customers, as well as expanding opportunities in global e-commerce. Atlas continues to expand its fleet of widebody freighters with the addition of eight new 747 and 777 aircraft in 2024.
“These aircraft will be placed immediately into service to complement the continued strong performance of the Company’s 767 fleet in service to US military and commercial customers.”
https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/atlas-to-focus-on-widebodies-as-it-reworks-amazon-partnership/
