DUSHANBE, October 6, Asia-Plus — Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, has replenished its fleet, taking Boeing 737-500 on a finance lease, according to the airline’s press service.
The aircraft was ferried to the Dushanbe airport from Lithuania on October 3 under an agreement reached between Tajik Air and Avia Asset Management.
Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, Avia Asset Management is the only company in the Baltic States engaged in long-term aircraft lease business. Avia Asset Management purchases modern western types of the aircraft and leases all of its aircraft to clients in the Baltics and CIS. Company specializes in medium-haul and narrow-bodied Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 aircraft. It is also offering aircraft fleet management, re-marketing, aircraft technical maintenance and repair, aviation specialists’ initial and continued professional training services.
The -500 series was offered, due to customer demand, as a modern and direct replacement of the 737-200. It incorporated the improvements of the 737 Classic series; allowing longer routes with fewer passengers to be more economical than with the 737-300. It accommodates up to 132 passengers.
According to the Tajik Air press service, it is already the second Boeing taken by the company on the finance lease.
Finance leasing, also known as “capital leasing,” is a longer-term arrangement in which the operator comes closer to effectively “owning” the aircraft. It involves a more complicated transaction in which a lessor, often a special purpose company (SPC) or partnership, purchases the aircraft through a combination of debt and equity financing, and then leases it to the operator. The operator may have the option to purchase the aircraft at the expiration of the lease, or may automatically receive the aircraft at the expiration of the lease.
At present 11 crews of the company, retrained for Boeing aircraft, operate flights to the CIS and far abroad countries, the press service said.
Modernization of the Tajik national air company began in 2006. Tajik Air took the first Boeing 737-200 on a dry lease and later, it took four other Boeings on the dry lease. The existing Soviet-era Tu-154s will have outlived their service life within the next few years, and therefore, the necessity of extending their service life requiring large financial expenses will emerge in the near future.
Taking into consideration these and other important factors as well as in order to ensure expansion of the flight geography, safety of flights and proper service level, Tajik Air intends to take two other Boeings on the finance lease.
