MANAMA, 19 June 2005 — MALC Fin Fourteen and MALC Fin Fifteen each recently signed facility agreements with Arab Banking Corporation (ABC).
The facilities were utilized to part finance the acquisition by Millennium Aircraft Leasing Company (MALC), a Bahamas registered aviation fund, of two Airbus A340-300 aircraft leased to and operated by Emirates International Airlines (Emirates) of Dubai, according to an ABC press release.
The total facilities amounted to $72 million. This transaction is the second completed by ABC with MALC following the closing of a financing of the purchase of a Boeing B777-200ER on lease to Malaysia Airlines in 2003.
Emirates is 100 percent owned by the Dubai government and has been in operation since 1985. Over the past 19 years, the carrier has grown to become one of the largest air transportation companies in the Middle East. In the financial year ended March 31, 2005, Emirates carried more than 12.5 million passengers to 76 destinations on a fleet of 75 aircraft.
Emirates’ fleet has an average age of 55 months compared to the industry average of 156 months.
MALC is an aviation fund incorporated as a joint venture company in 2002 for the purpose of undertaking aircraft operating lease transactions. MALC invests in diverse portfolio of aircraft on lease with several operators worldwide.
