Mainland lenders bankroll aircraft purchases

Chinese banks are expected to become an important source of capital financing for airplane purchases globally in the coming years as they fill a void left by the exit of many US and European banks, a senior executive from Boeing's financing arm said yesterday.

The current global financial crisis has allowed China's healthy and active banking community to step into the spotlight to become more active in the global aircraft lending arena, said Foster Arata, Boeing Capital Corporation's vice-president and senior managing director for Asia Pacific and Greater China Region.

Boeing Capital, which provides customer financing support, is a wholly owned subsidiary of US aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing.