China Eastern Airlines said Monday it had agreed to sell two Airbus A340 jets for 590 million yuan (86 million dollars) to improve its cash flow, but added it would lease the planes back. The nation's third largest carrier by fleet size said it sold the two planes to China's Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co Ltd, in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
China Eastern said last month it hoped to receive more financial support from Beijing after receiving seven billion yuan in aid, but that the government had not yet made any commitments.
The airline said it intended to channel the proceeds from the sale of the aircraft into its operations. It will pay about 17 million yuan for each aircraft per quarter to lease them back over the next five years, the carrier said. China Eastern suffered a net loss of 15.3 billion yuan last year due to falling passenger numbers, rising fuel costs and bad bets on fuel hedging contracts.
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