Dubai’s flydubai secures $500m five-year loan to refinance its sukuk

Dubai airline flydubai has secured a $500m five-year term loan to refinance its first sukuk issued in 2014.

The sukuk to be refinanced will mature on November 26 this year, a statement said.

Emirates NBD Capital Limited (EMCAP) and Noor bank were global coordinators for the transaction completed on November 14, while Emirates NBD bank and Noor bank were joint underwriters, the statement said.

Lead arrangers and bookrunners for the deal included EMCAP, Noor bank and Dubai Islamic bank.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer, flydubai said: “We continue to explore ways to further diversify our sources of funding, while at the same time optimising our cost of funding. We are pleased to see the healthy appetite in the market that has enabled us to successfully raise the five-year term loan for $500m to refinance our first sukuk issued in 2014.”

Flydubai completed 10 years of operations this year, having flown its first flight to Beirut on June 1, 2009.

Pictures: Flydubai completes 10 years of operations

It currently flies to more than 90 destinations across 48 countries, having carried more than 75 million passengers since it launched. The airline also introduced over 65 new routes that either did not have direct air links to Dubai earlier, or were not serviced by a UAE carrier from Dubai, the statement said.

Flydubai posted a loss of Dhs196.7m ($53.6m) for the first half of 2019, as grounding all of its its 14 MAX jets – constituting roughly 10 per cent of its fleet – impacted operations considerably. The airline had to cancel up to 15 flights a day, according to an earlier report.

Read more: Flydubai posts $53.6m H1 loss as Boeing 737 MAX grounding impacts operations