TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), one of the nation’s listed air carriers, said yesterday that its board of directors has approved a plan to purchase nine ATR 72-600 aircraft, with the first turboprop scheduled to be delivered in 2014.
The company did not specify how much the plan would cost TransAsia.
However, the current market price of an ATR 72-600 is US$20 million, a source told the Taipei Times.
“These nine aircraft will mainly be used for operating domestic routes and help the company’s fleet replacement,” the air carrier said in a statement.
TransAsia started its fleet upgrade plans in 2010. Other than the nine ATR 72-600s, the carrier has placed orders for 18 new Airbus 321-series aircraft and two Airbus 330-300 planes, with the first A330-300 set to be delivered in November.
The company said it would self-finance part of the plan, while also looking for an opportunity to sign a syndicated loan agreement with domestic banks.
The air carrier signed a NT$5.5 billion (US$186.07 million) syndicated loan agreement with eight domestic banks in November last year to finance its order for the two A330-300 aircraft.
In addition, the air carrier’s board yesterday approved a plan to introduce new investors through a private placement of no more than 50 million shares.
It will be the company’s first private placement after its primary listing on the main bourse in November last year, the statement said.
TransAsia said it would seek investors with business experience of international airlines to help boost the company’s operations, with the amount raised expected to be higher than that generated in its last capital-raising plan.
In October last year, the carrier raised NT$898 million from two strategic foreign investors — Paradigm Transportation Holdings BV, a subsidiary of Paradigm Venture Partners LLC, and Maurice Savart, director of MS Consult International Ltd.
The plan indicated a possibility of cooperation between Trans-Asia and Airbus, since both of the investors were related to Airbus, but the carrier never confirmed the implication.
The company’s board also passed a plan to establish a subsidiary in Japan by June for managing a Taipei-Osaka route — its first route to Japan — which is scheduled to be launched during the same period.
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