marcotiloca...
in any event, correctly, driver #1 is cost reduction, i.e. how to take an a/c to an airline at the minum cost considering ALL the cirmustances.
I would like to take this opportunity to broadly explain what was, possibly, behind the EI reg of AP's 320s and relevant AP's subsidiary in Ireland. The main issues in this circumstance were, I believe, a/c on or off AP's books and the creditworthiness of AP, the latter being most probably by far not enough for such a big deal. That required an asset based structure, with a very big focus on repossession issues. As far as I can imagine, the solution found was very similar to the following:
(i) AP set up a newco in Ireland with very limited capital expenditure (ii) a/c are sold by Airbus to the newco (iii) the newco leases - operating or financial leases ? - the a/c to AP.
Financial institutions will finance the newco, will have a pledge on the a/c, on the shares of the newco, on anything possible, assignment of the voting rights, may be some board members, company by-laws are carefully worded, it might be that a conditional forward sale agremment of the shares (to the financial institutions) has also been entered into, the 60 A-320s delivery positiions/options may also have been assigned to the newco, it might be that Airbus Group is also, directly or indireclty, supporting the newco, buy-back agremments could have been signed between the newco and Airbus or other interested parties copuld have been signed, etc. It might also be that a/c are subleased to AP from the newco, and a third party - another newco, another SPC, Special Purpose Company, is leasing the aircraft to the newco. That is financing financial institutions are
de facto controlling and managing the newco and its assets (i.e. the a/c). Actually I believe that the structure was even more complicated.
with the exception that in Italy there is still a Company controlled by rule makers which just does not care about all these issues, because they are paid by those who pay taxes...
Generally speaking you are right, they have NEVER done or possibly have done very little structured financing with the only exception of ExIm bank soft loans, and, believe me, over the years, the decades, they have been presented with thousands proposals by all the players in the aircraft financing arena. Howevere, for them it was by far easier to call on the Italian friendly banks
and get straigth loans, even on an unsecured basis
, etc. The even managed to finance MD-11 with short term unsecured credit facilities!
. Over the past few years the situation has changed a little, but they have got so few new aircraft that it was not quite an issue.
