Spirit Airlines has "pledged" all of its 2017 deliveries to the commercial bank market for financing, says chief financial officer Ted Christie.
"For 2017, we have pledged all of our aircraft already to the private bank market," he said at the JP Morgan aviation, transportation and industrials conference on 15 March.
Christie adds that both commercial banks and lessors continue to offer "very aggressive" terms this year, as they did in 2016.
Spirit has closed two bank facilities totalling $145 million for four of its 15 Airbus A320 family deliveries this year, an annual financial filing shows. The debt covers two A320s and one A321 that are due this month and in April, and one A320 due later in 2017.
The Miramar, Florida-based carrier has taken delivery of two A321s to date this year, the Flight Fleets Analyzer shows. CIC Bank financed one (MSN 7395) and the other (MSN 7522) was financed with proceeds from Spirit"™s $577 million 2015-1 enhanced equipment trust certificate (EETC) transaction.
Spirit is scheduled to take delivery of four A320s and nine more A321s in 2017, its fleet plan shows. It will also add two leased Airbus A319s during the second quarter.
The airline forecasts capital expenditures to be around $660 million for the year, the financial filing shows…
