Chapter 11 protected Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) continues to expand their Airbus A320neo fleet amid being caught in a difficult time, as the airline has just taken delivery of yet another A320neo airframe from aircraft lessor Aviation Capital Group (“ACG”)
The delivery is a part of the recently agreed on sale-leaseback deal between the two companies, which since the announcement has seen the delivery of one other Airbus A320neo airframe.
All in all, the agreement encompasses ten A320neo aircraft, leaving eight pending delivery to the carrier.
The details
Announced by global airline lessor Aviation Capital Group LLC, most commonly known as ACG, the company announced on March 31 that they have successfully delivered yet another Airbus A320neo aircraft to the Scandinavian carrier SAS (SK).
Equipped with CFM LEAP-1A powerplants, the airframe becomes the second of ten Airbus A320neo aircraft to be delivered following ACG and SAS’ sale-leaseback agreement which came into place during the first week of March.
Information about the aircraft registration and MSN number has not been mentioned, but is believed to be “Garm Viking”, EI-SIZ (MSN 11374), which shows to be the latest addition according to planespotters.net.
The aircraft will operate under SAS Connect, the sister company of SAS which was created shortly before the company filed for Chapter 11 in July of last year.
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The ACG-SAS agreement
The Scandinavian carrier SAS has been no stranger to the spotlight for the past nine months, as the airline fell under Chapter 11 bankruptcy before a U.S. Court in a heap during the Summer season 2022. This action followed the pilot strike which emerged after negotiations failed.
In a reconstructive move back in September of 2022, SAS phased out a number of aircraft, including almost brand new Airbus A350s and A320neos.
However, the carrier has seen deliveries of new A320neo aircraft amid the restructuring, and on March 3 announced the establishment of an agreement with lessor Aviation Capital Group (ACG), for the long term financing and sale-leaseback of further 10 new A320neo airframes.
Anko van der Werff, CEO & President of SAS, said the following on the agreement: “We are pleased to renew our long-term strategic partnership with ACG, one of the world’s leading aircraft financing partners,”
“We continue to make progress with our transformation plan and these new sale and leaseback agreements are an important part of that – securing competitive financing for our renewed fleet of modern and fuel-efficient aircraft.”
Speaking for the lessor, Aviation Capital Group’s CEO and President, Tom G. Baker, responded: “ACG is honored to welcome SAS as a renewed strategic partner.”
“We are delighted to support the SAS FORWARD transformation plan with this sale-leaseback transaction for SAS’ latest technology and fuel-efficient aircraft,”
With the agreement in place, SAS is expected to take delivery of the ten A320neo aircraft in question through the first quarter of FY2024, and as of the time of writing, two are now delivered to the carrier.
The remaining eight aircraft to be delivered are to be seen active with the carrier at a later time, however their exact delivery dates remain unknown at this time.
 has taken delivery of the second of 10 Airbus A320neo aircraft on sale-leaseback from lessor ACG.){kind=link}