British Airways and Iberia parent IAG said on Tuesday that it has secured a $1.76bn revolving credit facility with a syndicate of banks, using take-off and landing rights at both Heathrow and Gatwick airports as collateral.
The RCF will be available for three years, plus two one-year extension periods at the discretion of the lenders.
The facility is available to Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia, each of which has a separate borrower limit within the overall facility.
The debt is also being secured against eligible unencumbered aircraft assets, IAG said. After securing the new RCF, the group’s total facilities have increased by nearly 400m.
IAG said it continues to have “strong” liquidity, with an estimated total of 10.3bn as of the end of March.
The company also said on Tuesday that British Airways has cancelled its US dollar facility that was due to expire in June, which had $786m undrawn and available at the end of December 2020.