ASL Aviation Holdings agrees $125mn debt facility

ASL Aviation Holdings has closed an agreement making USD125 million available to the group to be drawn down as the Dublin-based company requires, it said in a statement dated April 8. The holding, which includes its in-house carriers ASL Airlines Ireland, ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France, ASL Airlines Hungary (FAH, Budapest) and, most recently, ASL Airlines UK – which as previously reported received an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) in the United Kingdom last month after the country’s exit from the European Union – said that the new debt facility had been inked with Goldman Sachs. The financing will be used during 2021 “to partially finance ASL’s ongoing medium-haul fleet replacement programme,” said Mark O’Kelly, ASL Aviation Holdings’ chief financial officer. In March, ASL firmed options with Boeing for ten B737-800(BCF)s, increasing its total order for the converted freighters to 21 aircraft. All of the jets will be converted by the end of 2022, with the first three already delivered and the fourth due later in April. “With a volatile market due to the impact of the pandemic, this new facility provides ASL with both stability and flexibility,” O’Kelly said. “It builds on our financial infrastructure to facilitate future capital expenditure and also enables us to manage our debt profile in Europe as required as the aviation industry works its way through the enduring effects of the pandemic.”The group claimed in the statement that it had maintained a utilisation of about 80% of its entire fleet of 140 aircraft and had retained all 2,500 of its staff.