Mexicana, a troubled Mexican airline is due to return almost 40% of its mainline fleet to lessors under agreements brokered following its bankruptcy last August.

Mexicana will return 12 aircraft to GE Capital Aviation Services, including all 10 of the Airbus A318s currently operated by the carrier. Two A320s also leased by the General Electric division are being returned.

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) which had argued that Mexicana had illegally retained possession of its aircraft also regains its Airbus narrow-body fleet, while AerCap will get its four Airbus narrow-bodies back.

Mexicana went into bankruptcy in August after the ILFC and AerCap tried to impound all of their aircraft. The airline had being missing lease payments going back as far as 2009.

Macquarie AirFinance buys three planes from International Lease Finance Association

In other air finance news, Macquarie AirFinance, a global aircraft leasing company based in Dublin has bought an A320-200, an A321-200 and a 737-800 from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). The aircraft are on lease to SATA, Novair and Travel Service respectively.

John Willingham, chief executive officer of Macquarie AirFinance said: "We are delighted to acquire these three aircraft from the ILFC portfolio. These are part of the commitment to six aircraft that we announced in April of this year. The aircraft are currently on long-term leases to SATA, Novair and Travel Service, all well-established, successful airlines whom we are excited to count amongst our customers.”

Multiple sources of liquidity

Phil Scruggs, global head of marketing of ILFC said: “This is a successful agreement that works for both sides. Our efforts in working with Macquarie in this transaction coupled with the success of our recently announced secured and unsecured borrowings demonstrate ILFC’s ability to access multiple sources of liquidity.”

Macquarie Bank recently announced the purchase of 53 aircraft from ILFC, of which Macquarie AirFinance will purchase six and act as servicer for 47. At the time Macquarie Group chief financial officer, Greg Ward, said: “This transaction leverages Macquarie’s existing expertise in asset leasing, demonstrates the strength of our aircraft management capabilities and diversifies the client base of our aircraft fleet.”

Macquarie AirFinance is a global aircraft leasing company that provides aircraft and capital to the world’s commercial airlines, and advisory and management services to aircraft owners. Established in 2006 the company currently owns or manages 124 jet aircraft leased to 61 operators in 30 countries, across six continents.