Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 24, 2015, CDB Leasing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Development Bank (CDB), announced that a purchase and leaseback deal of 6 brand new Airbus A321 aircraft has been signed with Hungary's Wizz Air (W6), the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe. The aircraft involved will be delivered successively from 2015 to 2016. The first A321 was delivered on November 20, 2015, and the second was scheduled for December 2015. The Airbus A321, with a longer fuselage than the standard A320, holds 230 passengers for greater capacity on popularly traveled routes. This is the second leaseback deal Wizz Air has completed with CDB Leasing. The first $546 million USD deal for six A320 aircraft is captured in linked Record ID#91998.
Staff comments
1. Wizz Air is the largest budget airline in Central and Eastern Europe, operating its fleet of aircraft from 16 bases with more than 270 routes connecting 93 destinations across 32 countries. 2. AidData assumes that the September 24, 2015 agreement was a capital lease agreement. 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.