State role in funding plane purchases set to fall, says Boeing

[LONDON] More commercial jet buyers will tap rapidly-expanding capital markets to finance US$112 billion of jet sales in 2014 as state-backed export credits become pricier and more politically sensitive, Boeing Co said on Tuesday.

Money from government-backed export credit agencies (ECA), once used to pay for the bulk of jet deals, will make up 18 per cent of plane financing next year, down from 23 per cent in 2013, Boeing said in an annual forecast.

"Higher fees and higher equity requirements are driving more customers to other markets . . . (and) export credit has a higher - than what we've seen historically - political component to it," said Kostya Zolotusky, a managing director at Boeing Capital Corp.