ING Capital LLC has announced that it closed a USD 107.5 million pre-delivery payment (PDP) financing for Ethiopian Airlines on May 12 in respect of Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

The airline is utilizing the PDP financing to finance a portion of the pre-delivery payments which it makes to Airbus prior to the delivery of each aircraft. ING Capital is the sole lender and facility agent.

Ethiopian Airlines has ordered 14 Airbus A350-900 aircraft, the first of which is scheduled to be delivered in June 2016.

The airline will be the first African A350 operator when it takes delivery of the first aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines plans to deploy the aircraft on its expanding route network linking Africa with Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Meseret Bitew, acting Chief Financial Officer at Ethiopian Airlines, said, "The financial support for our acquisition of the A350 aircraft is critical to Ethiopian Airlines as we aim to sustain our position of being the pioneer of African aviation as an aircraft technology leader."