General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) plans to lease three Airbus A330-200 aircraft to Qatar Airways. The first two aircraft enter service in January and February 2004. The third is a new aircraft scheduled for delivery in June 2005. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Qatar Airways already leases an A320 from GECAS and will take delivery of two new A330-200 aircraft on lease from GECAS in the summer of 2004.
Qatar Airways currently flies to 48 destinations worldwide. Within the coming two years, the number of destinations served by the airline is projected to rise to 60. The airline presently operates 29 Airbus aircraft and recently signed a $5.1 billion order for 34 additional Airbus aircraft in a deal that will increase the fleet to 52 by 2008.
GECAS, a unit of GE Commercial Finance, is a provider of fleet, financing and productivity solutions to the global aviation industry. The firm has a fleet of some 1,200 owned aircraft and manages nearly 300 for others. It offers a full range of aircraft fleet and financing solutions, including operating leases, finance leases and secured debt financing. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
