Delta Air Lines is in the market with a $500 million airplane securitization, according to an SEC filing by the company.
The deal, called DAL 2015-1, is structured as structured as three tranches of enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETCs), which are backed both by aircraft and the credit of the aircraft owner.
The collateral behind DAL-2015-1 consists of 15 B737-900ER aircraft delivered between September 2013 and February 2014. Combined the planes have a appraised value of $694.5 million.
The largest tranche, the Class AA, amounts to $312.5 million. A Class A piece is for $69.5 million, and a Class B for $118 million.
The AA notes — the senior-most paper — and A notes have an average life of 8.9 years. The B notes have an average life of 5.9 years.
Morgan Stanely is the sole structuring agent and is sharing the role of joint lead bookrunner with Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Natixis are passive bookrunners.
EETCs are typically sold to investors in order to finance the purchase of an aircraft by a trust managed on the investor’s behalf. The trust then leases the aircraft to the airline, and the trustee routes payments through the trust to investors. Upon the maturity of the note, the airline receives the title to the aircraft.
Spirit priced EETCs
