WASHINGTON – The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is providing a medium-term loan guarantee to support the export of a Daher Kodiak 100 aircraft, made in Sandpoint, Idaho, to Costa Rica Green Airways SRL. The guaranteed lender is Apple Bank in New York. The EXIM-backed export was facilitated by AirFinance Leasing LLC, an EXIM Qualified Advisor.
The transaction (approved by EXIM in 2019, but which recently reached financial closure) is EXIM’s first financing in support of an export of the Kodiak 100 – a single-engine short-takeoff and landing turboprop-powered aircraft capable of bringing passengers, cargo, and heavy supplies to remote areas. The aircraft was manufactured in Sandpoint by Kodiak Aircraft, which has been acquired by the Daher Group(link is external).
“This is an example of how EXIM’s medium-term support can make the difference in facilitating exports of U.S.-made capital equipment by helping companies offer financing to their international customers and sustaining local manufacturing jobs in the United States,” said EXIM Chief Banking Officer Stephen Renna.
“With this financing, EXIM is helping Kodiak Aircraft to support approximately 250 local jobs in northern Idaho,” said Nicolas Chabbert, the CEO of Kodiak Aircraft. “The assistance from EXIM opens doors to further expand Kodiak sales worldwide by facilitating our outreach to international customers. We look forward to working with EXIM on additional export sales.”
AirFinance Leasing LLC(link is external) submitted the application on behalf of the Costa Rican airline operator. Costa Rica Green Airways will use the aircraft primarily to transport tourists to remote coastal areas, as well as for other passenger service.
Under the Qualified Advisor Program, initiated with AirFinance in 2012, EXIM leverages private-sector expertise by allowing qualified industry experts to assess credit risks and expedite EXIM-supported foreign-buyer financing for business aircraft and helicopters.
The Daher Kodiak was developed with the goal of providing access to more people and places with a reliable turbine-powered short take-off and landing aircraft. For the past decade, the 10-seat Kodiak 100 has served a wide range of public, private, business, and humanitarian applications.
The Daher Group is an aircraft manufacturer and an industry and service-equipment supplier. The Kodiak 100 being exported to Costa Rica was manufactured at the Kodiak Aircraft facility in Sandpoint, where the final assembly line is located.
ABOUT EXIM:
EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to support sales of U.S. goods and services to international buyers. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency’s authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.
For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.