Etihad Airways to Seek $600 Million Loan for Planes

(Bloomberg) -- Etihad Airways PJSC is seeking a loan of about $600 million to help make initial payments for planes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Abu Dhabi's state-owned carrier is arranging the loan on its own and has reached out to banks that may be willing to provide the unsecured facility with maturity of one or two years, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. A spokesman for Etihad Airways said the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.

Etihad Airways has 43 unfilled orders from the Boeing Co.'s 787 family, according to a Boeing January report.

The carrier in February slashed orders worth $21.4 billion at list prices for Boeing and Airbus SE jetliners, pushing forward with a drastic restructuring after years of operational losses. It cut the order for Boeing 777-9 aircraft to six jets from 25, while canceling the delivery of 42 Airbus A350 wide-bodies, leaving it with 20, it said at the time.

After reporting losses of $4.8 billion over the past three years, Etihad Airways has cut thousands of positions, put the brakes on a costly expansion and scrapped marginal routes. The airline is also being sued over an August 2017 decision to cut financial support for defunct German carrier Air Berlin Plc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin, Maria Ermakova

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