FL GROUP and Air China Ltd. today declared their intent to enter into an agreement for the lease of five Boeing 737-800 aircraft at a signing ceremony in Beijing China, attended by Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland. The Chairman of FL GROUP'S  board  Mr. Hannes Smarason and  Ms. Zhang Yang President of Air China Group Import&Export Trading Co. signed the agreement on behalf of their companies.

 

According to the agreement  ICELEASE  which is a subsidiary of FL GROUP will lease 5 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Air China for 8 years. The aircraft will be delivered to Air China in February to July next year, directly from Boeing's production line in Seattle. Air China is China's largest airline with numerous destinations in China and around the world. Air China’s fleet consists of about 150 aircraft and is expanding rapidly.

 

Today's agreement is made following FL GROUP'S purchase of 15 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft earlier this year. The purchase agreement with Boeing is FL GROUP'S largest aircraft order to date.

 

The chairman of FL GROUP'S board, Hannes Smarason, said today that the agreement with Air China marks the beginning of a new era for FL GROUP. “It is very important for us to have entered the Chinese market and to start cooperating with an outstanding airline like Air China. We look at this agreement as only the beginning of long time future cooperation which will benefit both companies. When we purchased the aircraft earlier this year we made plans with the Japanese aircraft lease company Sunrock which involved leasing the aircraft in Asia and other markets. The progress so far has been beyond our expectations. FL GROUP has a historic relationship with Boeing and we purchased the aircraft at favourable prices. The agreement today confirms that our decision to enter the aircraft lease market in this way was correct”, said Hannes Smarason.

 

The agreement signed today was prepared by FL GROUP'S new subsidiary Icelease, which handles buying, selling and leasing of aircraft on behalf of FL GROUP. The Managing Director of ICELEASE is Halldór Vilhjálmsson. ICELEASE is currently working on lease agreements in partnership with the Sunrock for the 10 remaining Boeing 737-800 aircraft that will be delivered to FL GROUP in late 2006 and in 2007.