Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
Prior to August 2017, China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (CDB Leasing) — a Chinese state-owned leasing company — entered into a lease agreement with Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG — a German airline, Germany's second largest, headquartered in Berlin — for three Airbus A320 aircraft. These aircraft were delivered prior to August 2017. On August 15, 2017, Air Berlin filed for insolvency after its key shareholder Etihad Airways announced it would no longer support the airliner after years of losses; CDB Leasing's A320s were still on lease at the time of insolvency
Staff comments
1. A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee (user) to pay the lessor (owner) for use of an asset. The lessor is the legal owner of the asset, while the lessee obtains the right to use the asset in return for regular rental payments. Under a capital lease (a financial arrangement where the lessee/borrower uses an asset and pays regular installments plus interest to the lender/lessor), rental payments are usually classified as interest and obligation payments, similarly to a mortgage (with the interest calculated each rental period on the outstanding obligation balance). AidData codes capital leases as loans. 2. The specific commitment date of this lease is unknown; however, it is known to that all three aircraft were delivered prior to August 2017. For the time being, AidData has coded August 2017 as the commitment_date field and marked the commitment_date_estimated? field as True.