Xiamen Airlines is looking to finance two new Comac ARJ21 aircraft.
The Chinese carrier is inviting bids from parties with net assets worth at least CNY100 million ($14.6 million) in their latest audited full-year financial statements.
Alternatively, bidders should have experience providing aircraft financing, including sale-and-leaseback transactions, to China’s three largest airlines – China Southern Airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, or their subsidiaries.
The tender closes on 3 February.
Xiamen is majority-owned by China Southern Airlines. It mostly operates domestic and regional routes, but also flies to France, the Netherlands, Los Angeles, New York, as well as various destinations in Asia-Pacific, Cirium schedules data shows.
In a landmark deal, China Southern, Air China, and China Eastern announced last August that each carrier is ordering 35 ARJ21-700s, valued at $1.33 billion.
Xiamen does not have any orders for the aircraft but has options for six.
Jiangxi Air, a low-cost carrier co-owned by Xiamen and the Jiangxi provincial government, has just received the first of five ARJ21s, airframer COMAC says in a statement. Cirium fleets data shows that MSN130, an ARJ21-700, is currently managed and owned by Xiamen.
The data also shows that China Southern currently has 34 ARJ21-700 in its orderbook.
