Comair drops Boeing deliveries as US Ex-Im charter expires

Chicago

SOUTH Africa's Comair Ltd may have to drop US$1.1 billion in Boeing Co jet deliveries due to begin in October after struggling to line up financing without US government assistance. The transaction, described in a Sept 28 letter to Boeing from Comair, would be the planemaker's first aircraft order imperiled since the US Export-Import Bank's charter expired June 30.

Boeing is the biggest beneficiary of the agency, which has been attacked by some congressional Republicans who said that it aids big businesses that do not need help. Comair had negotiated financing for three 737-800 jetliners due to be delivered in October, February and November 2016 with the expectation of Ex-Im support, chief executive officer Erik Venter said in a letter addressed jointly to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg and Ray Conner, who heads the company's airplane unit.