Porter Aviation Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Porter Aircraft Leasing, has entered into a sale and leaseback and pre-delivery financing agreement for 12 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. TrueNoord and funds managed by Apollo affiliates are participating in six transactions each.
On Thursday (September 15, 2022), Porter Aviation Holdings, Inc. announced that their wholly-owned subsidiary, Porter Aircraft Leasing Corp., has secured sales and leaseback and pre-delivery payment (PDP) financing for 12 new Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. In separate transactions for six aircraft each, TrueNoord and certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo and serviced by Merx Aviation are participating in the financing. In total, Porter has now secured lease agreements with five leasing companies for a total of 26 Embraer E195-E2s, as part of Porter’s original order for 30 of the aircraft type. Deliveries are expected to commence later this year.
In Thursday’s announcment, Porter’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jeffrey Brown, said,
“There is continuing strong interest in the E195-E2 from the leasing community, with TrueNoord and Merx/Apollo being the latest partners to join our strong lessor group. We anticipate being able to complete transactions for the remaining aircraft in our initial order and look forward to them entering service.”
Also commenting on the financing transactions, TrueNoord’s Sales Director - Americas, Garry Topp, said,
“Porter is deeply experienced and know their market well, having successfully operated for more than 15 years. They are blending this experience with great enthusiasm, innovation and creativity to build a successful business around the new E195-E2. This aircraft has the potential to be disruptive to the market and Porter understand the opportunity this creates. They are a great customer to work with and we are proud to be supporting their expansion plans in the region.”
Merx Aviation’s CEO and Head of Aviation Finance at Apollo, Gary Rothschild, added,
“We are pleased to partner with Porter as the airline continues to expand its fleet and execute on its growth strategy. We look forward to introducing the Embraer E2 to the Merx/Apollo portfolio, and are excited to announce this transaction as the first Apollo-funded PDP facility to date. This transaction further underscores our ability to act as a dynamic liquidity and capital solutions provider for our airline customers and we look forward to working with the Porter team and building a long-term relationship.”
Porter Airlines is the North American launch customer for the Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. The carrier will operate the new aircraft from Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Toronto Pearson International airport of destinations across the continent.
Porter Airlines is an Official 4 Star Airline® in the World Airline Star Rating® and provides a warm and effortless approach to hospitality, restoring glamour and refinement to air travel. The carrier offers domestic Canadian and transborder U.S. service with flights to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Fredericton, Moncton, Halifax, St. John’s, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmons, Windsor, New York-Newark, Chicago-Midway, Boston and Washington-Dulles. Additionally, Porter offers seasonal service to Mt. Tremblant (Quebec), Muskoka (Ontario) and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Porter Airlines currently operates a fleet of De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Dash 8-400s, and will be adding new Embraer E195-E2 jets to their fleet during the second half of 2022.
Source: Porter Airlines