CDB Aviation Purchases and Leases Back Nine 737 MAX Aircraft to WestJet

CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Limited (“CDB Leasing”), announced today the company has completed the financing for eight of the nine Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft under the purchase and leaseback agreement with Calgary-based carrier WestJet. The ninth aircraft is anticipated to close in December 2020. The aircraft were originally delivered to WestJet over the past three years.

“We have formed a strong working relationship with our colleagues at WestJet, and warmly welcome them to our growing family of airline customers across the Americas,” commented CDB Aviation Chief Marketing Officer Peter Goodman. “We appreciate their trust in our platform and confidence in our ability to deliver this innovational, customized, and large-scale financing.”

Goodman emphasized the lessor’s established platform’s ability to close transactions of this scale, pointing to “our commercial team’s unrelenting focus on listening to our customers and working collaboratively on crafting financing solutions that fit their requirements.”

WestJet Executive Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer Harry Taylor remarked: “We were very pleased with the process in which our teams successfully completed this transaction. The CDB Aviation team was professional, responsive, and pleasant to work with.”

CDB Aviation’s highly competitive position among lessors is anchored in the “robust resources backed by its shareholder, CDB Leasing, and bespoke financing solutions that provide market-leading economics,” expanded CDB Aviation Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hannigan.

Hannigan concluded: “The expediency and resourcefulness, with which the team collaborates with our airline partners, are reflective of our steadfast investment in the strategy centered on meeting the airlines’ wide-ranging needs, from supporting operations in the current pandemic-affected environment to delivering solutions for the long term.”