Southwest to raise $815 million through sale and leaseback of 20 planes

[May 09, 2020]    (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co <LUV.N> will sell and lease back 20 planes for gross proceeds of about $815 million, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, U.S., March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The move will help Southwest save cash at a time when U.S. airlines collectively burn more than $10 billion a month. Passenger traffic in the country has fallen by 95% since March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Southwest's deal involves 10 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and 10 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The airline did not specify who it was selling the planes to and the duration of the leaseback agreement.

Last month, rival United Airlines <UAL.O> agreed to sell and lease back 22 planes to aircraft investor Bank of China Aviation. United, however, did not specify the size of the deal.

Southwest said https://bit.ly/3be71WI it would use the money raised for general corporate purposes.

(Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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