The story was updated to reflect the club of lenders
Spirit Airlines has closed a $228 million secured loan for six Airbus A320 family aircraft due this year.
The club loan has a 12-year tenor and is priced at a floating rate of 155bps to 160bps over three-month-Libor, the Miramar, Florida-based carrier says in a stock exchange filing.
Spirit could elect for a fixed interest rate equal to the floating rate margin over a Libor swap rate, it says.
The loan finances one A320 and five Airbus A321 deliveries due from June through November, says Spirit.
BNP Paribas is facility agent of the club loan.
Spirit plans to take delivery of four A320s and 11 A321s in 2017, an annual financial filing shows. It will also add two leased Airbus A319s.
Prior to the club loan, the airline had financing in place for four of its 2017 aircraft deliveries. Spirit financed two A320s and one A321 with a $106 million secured loan that it closed in December 2016, and one A321 with proceeds from its $577 million 2015-1 secured enhanced equipment trust certificate (EETC) issue.
Spirit has taken delivery of two A321s to date this year, the Flight Fleets Analyzer shows. One (MSN 7395) financed by CIC Bank and the other (MSN 7522) with proceeds from the EETC.
The carrier still needs financing for one A320 and four A321s due this year, following the BNP loan.
Spirit chief financial officer Ted Christie said earlier in March that it had “pledged” all its 2017 aircraft deliveries to the bank market.
The airline forecasts roughly $660 million in capital expenditures in 2017.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
