Thomas Cook secures aircraft financing

29th May 2013 07:14

FTSE 250-listed travel company Thomas Cook Group has reported that GECAS has agreed to acquire six A321-200s directly from Airbus, further to a purchase agreement between Thomas Cook and Airbus dated January 25th 2011.Thomas Cook said that it would lease back those aircraft from GECAS at an average lease rate factor of 0.887% per month subject to adjustment for prevailing interest rates at the time of delivery for 144 months. The group added that this implemented the letter of intent with GECAS described in the prospectus issued on May 16th 2013 relating to the recapitalisation of Thomas Cook. The financing of the aircraft was in addition to the recently announced recapitalisation, the group added.The deal signals the latest stage of the fleet renewal programme for Thomas Cook's airline segment, which recently announced the bringing together of its four airlines TCX (UK), TC Belgium, Condor (Germany) and TC A/S (Scandinavia) into one segment as part of its on-going efficiency drive; to maximise purchasing power, reduce duplicative cost and improve the customer experience. Christoph Debus, Group Head of Air Travel for Thomas Cook, said: "These commitments, as part of the renewal of our narrow body fleet, represent significant further progress as we continue to invest in the future of our business and work with our key partners to deliver a holiday experience in line with what our customers expect from a market leader such as the Thomas Cook Group".MF