The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) is encouraging more member airlines to express an interest in European Investment Bank (EIB) funding available for regional fleet renewal, before it expires in two years’ time.
In July 2016, the EIB opened a new lending guideline for regional aircraft financing, and apportioned a €1 billion pilot as an opportunity for ERA members to buy new, more environmentally efficient aircraft.
Two member airlines, KLM Cityhopper and Air Nostrum, have already benefited from the fund, with a total of €546 million of financing approved in principle for the purchase of new Embraer and Bombardier aircraft.
Now the ERA is looking forward to working with more members to encourage them to pursue similar financing from the remaining funding available.
At a recent media briefing at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the ERA highlighted the need for airlines to express an interest in the financing. “At the moment we don’t have the problem that we want more money, what we want is more airlines to benefit,” said Montserrat Barriga, director general of the ERA.
She said that while some member airlines look to the second-hand market for aircraft, the EIB wants new aircraft that have a positive environmental impact, being more efficient and cleaner.
Andrew Kelly, president of the ERA, said of the project: “The whole process took almost a year of work by KLM and Air Nostrum to actually get to the end of this big project.”
He highlighted that these airlines had the size and resources to be able to put the number of people across the project as needed. He added: “Now that it’s been done and it’s been seen on both sides and we have a system for it, it is now a much more reachable goal for the smaller airlines to actually do this project and to apply for the funding in the first place.”
The fund is due to expire in two years, with the ERA suggesting it could renegotiate an extension on the period but that it needed more airlines to show interest.
