Saab Aircraft Leasing Posts Strong Year in 2005
The year 2005 will be recorded in aviation history as the year of the “turboprop comeback”. New turboprop sales surpassed regional jet sales for the first time in 10 years, and in turn Saab Aircraft Leasing completed a very successful year. SAL placed 32 aircraft during last year including 10 Saab 2000s and 22 Saab 340s (See attached Appendix for details).These turboprops were placed with existing customers such as Carpatair, Colgan, Eastern, IBC, Lithuanian, Loganair, OLT, Penair and REX. In addition, new customers were sourced during 2005 including Bimini, FlyLPI, Mash Executive, Pacific Coastal and RAF Avia. Included in these transactions were two dedicated Cargo Saab 340As to IBC and RAF Avia further securing the Cargo market share for the Saab 340. These latest orders will grow the total to12 Saab 340As all Cargo in service adding to five existing Quick Change-aircraft. As SAL enters 2006, the company is already off to a great start with placement activities for a 4 Saab 340A aircraft in progress. The company has the lowest inventory of available aircraft in many years, totaling only seven Saab 340As, one S340B and no Saab 2000s. Some 20 aircraft are scheduled for lease returns during 2006. This is nearly the number of aircraft SAL has been placing annually. “The transactions for 2005 show a wide spread amongst diverse customers in many countries showing the continuing worldwide appeal of the Saab aircraft,“ said Michael Magnusson, President and CEO of Saab Aircraft Leasing. “We are also very pleased that third parties placed another 87 Saabs to meet the demands of the market.” The worldwide fleet of Saab 340s and Saab 2000s is approximately 500 units operated by approximately 50 customers in 20 countries. By December 2005, the Saab 340 fleet had accumulated 11.8m flight hours and 13.2m cycles. Highest time aircraft is at 44,500 hours, and highest time cycles is at 53,700. The Saab 2000 fleet had accumulated 970,000 hours by December and 956,000 cycles. Highest time aircraft is 23,200 hours and 22,400 cycles reflecting a younger fleet. Saab Aircraft Leasing manages a portfolio of 218 Saab 340s and Saab 2000s leased to 25 customers in 13 countries. With 33 employees, the company’s head office is in Washington, DC and SAL has regional offices in Stockholm, Sweden and Tokyo, Japan. SAL is part of Saab AB. Saab is one of the world’s leading high-technology companies, with its main operations focusing on defence, aviation and space. The group covers a broad spectrum of competence and capabilities in systems integration. For further information please contact: Michael Magnusson, Saab Aircraft Leasing, Telephone +1 703 406 7220 www.saabaircraftleasing.com www.saabgroup.com APPENDIX Saab Aircraft Leasing reports the following new business during 2005: FlyLPI (Spain) Two Saab 340A Sale IBC (USA) One Saab 340A Cargo, Sale RAF Avia (Latvia) One Saab 340A Cargo, Sale Bimini(USA) One Saab 340A Sale Mash Executive(Lebanon) One Saab 340A Sale Transwest (Canada) One Saab 340A Sale REX (Australia) Two Saab 340A Sale Pacific Coastal (Canada) Two Saab 340A Sale Bridges (UK) One Saab 340A Cargo, Sale Loganair (UK) Two Saab 340A Lease Colgan (US) Three Saab 340A Lease Penair (USA) One Saab 340A Lease Shuttle America (US) One Saab 340A Sale Japanese Coast Guard Two Saab 340B-Plus Sale (Conversion by Saab Aircraft) Amber (Lithuania) One Saab 340B Lease Eastern (UK) Two Saab 2000 Lease Carpatair (Romania) Two Saab 2000 Lease OLT (Germany) One Saab 2000 Lease Lithuanian Airlines Four Saab 2000 Lease Un-announced One Saab 2000 Sale Total 32 (10 Saab 2000s and 22 Saab 340s) Boldindicates new customers to the Saab family. Third Party Activities. Saab aircraft were in demand during 2005, therefore a large number of aircraft have been placed. These consist of 40 Saab 340As, 35 Saab 340Bs and 12 Saab 2000s. This total of 87 Saab transactions added to the 32 SAL aircraft makes an unprecedented 119 Saab aircraft placements. SAL placed 37% of the Saab 340As, few 340Bs because of lack of availability, and 45% of the Saab 2000s.