LOT Airlines to become the first European airline to operate the Boeing 767 after receiving a $500 million loan from the Ex-Im Bank.
WASHINGTON – The board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) authorized a comprehensive guarantee of an approximately $500 million loan to Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (LOT Airlines) for the export of a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Poland.
Apple Bank for Savings of New York extended the loan.
Boeing delivered the first Dreamliner to LOT Friday, Nov. 9 in Everett, Wash. The Dreamliner departed Seattle on November 15th and arrived in Warsaw, Poland the following day. LOT will be the first European airline to operate the Dreamliner, and it was also the first European airline to operate the Boeing 767.
Ex-Im Bank’s financing will support approximately 2,500 U.S. jobs, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.
“This landmark transaction brings American state-of-the-art aircraft to a competitive marketplace in Europe,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “By leveling the playing field, the Bank’s financing benefits business in both America and Poland and supports thousands of jobs in the U.S.”
Founded in 1928, LOT became the first airline in Central and Eastern Europe to operate American-manufactured aircraft. It is also the only airline that currently offers non-stop flights between the U.S. and Poland. The fleet of Dreamliners, which will contribute to LOT’s efforts to simplify, modernize, and upgrade its operations, will continue LOT’s non-stop North American service by flying routes to Warsaw from Chicago, New York, and Toronto.
“The Dreamliner delivery is yet another historic first for LOT, already one of the world’s oldest continuing airlines, as it becomes the first airline in Europe to operate the 787,” said Todd Nelp, vice president for European sales at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We’re thankful that Poland’s flag carrier puts its faith in American aviation know-how, and that Ex-Im Bank is there to support our customers who enable and sustain thousands of U.S. technology jobs.”
Nippon Export and Investment Insurance of Japan is co-financing the transaction.
As of the end of FY 2012, Ex-Im Bank’s credit exposure in Poland totaled $5.5 million.
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