AN INVESTMENT partnership formed by GATX Capital has placed $1.2 billion-worth of orders and options for up to 23 Boeing 737-800s and 757-200s.
GATX Capital's Air Group will manage the partnership, which includes Heller Financial and Kanematsu. Additional partners will be named at a later date, says GATX. The ten 737-800s on firm order will be delivered from late 1998 through to the third quarter of 1999. A further ten on option are pencilled in for delivery from September 1999 through to the second quarter of 2001.
The partnership's single firm order for the 757 (with Rolls-Royce RB.211 engines) will be handed over in April 1997 and leased to new UK-based charter carrier Flying Colours. Options are included for two additional 757s, one for delivery in May 1998, and the other in the second quarter of 1999. Earlier this year, a GATX-led consortium, GATX A321 Partners, placed an order for nine A321-200s.
The GATX deal takes total 737 orders to 3,376, some 93 of which are for the -800. Orders for the 757 rise to 831 while the total Boeing orderbook for the year to date now stands at 301.
Source: Flight International
