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Northwest Airlines Completes $454 Million Aircraft Financing

This news was published on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 and is archived under Airlines.

EAGAN, Minn. – (October 10, 2007) – Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) announced today that it has closed on a $454 million secured public aircraft financing. The transaction was structured with Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates (EETC) and will pre-fund the financing of 27 new 76-seat Embraer 175LR aircraft. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan served as joint bookrunners. This transaction represents the largest single EETC financing for aircraft to be flown by a regional airline. These state-of-the-art aircraft will be operated by Northwest’s new subsidiary, Compass Airlines.

“The EMB175LR is a great aircraft for our customers and for the airline,” said Northwest Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Dave Davis. “It features true two-class service with 12 business class seats and 64 coach class seats in a spacious cabin with a full-height aisle, fully equipped galley, two lavatories, larger windows and overhead bins.”

Last year, Northwest placed orders for 36 Embraer 175s and 36 Bombardier CRJ900s. With this EETC transaction and other financing commitments secured by the airline, Northwest now has permanent financing in place for all of these jets on attractive terms. Northwest is only the second airline to successfully enter the capital markets with an aircraft EETC financing since the credit markets were interrupted in late summer.

“The success of this transaction further reflects Northwest’s strong financial position and ability to access the capital markets,” Davis noted.

Compass is currently operating its first four E-175s with very high reliability and customer acceptance. In addition to the 36 Embraer aircraft on order, of which nine will be in service by the end of 2007 and the remainder by the end of 2008, Northwest has options for 100 more E-175s.

Northwest Airlines is one of the world’s largest airlines with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,400 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world’s most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 1,000 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents.

 

Source: Northwest Airlines
For further information about Northwest Airlines, click here

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