Southwest Airlines and Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management ("BBAM") Announce the Sale and Leaseback of 36 Aircraft

DALLAS, Jan. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and BBAM today announced the sale and leaseback of 36 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The aircraft will be owned and leased to Southwest Airlines by Incline Aviation III, the third in BBAM's flagship aviation investment fund series.  

Steve Zissis, President and CEO of BBAM, said: "We are excited to partner with Southwest Airlines, one of the world's most admired and awarded airlines, on this landmark sale-leaseback transaction. The transaction underscores BBAM's commitment to delivering tailored fleet financing solutions and certainty of execution to our airline partners. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with Southwest Airlines."

Tammy Romo, Executive Vice President and CFO of Southwest Airlines, said: "This transaction is part of our 'Southwest. Even Better.' transformational plan introduced in September at Investor Day. By opportunistically monetizing surplus value from a portion of our existing all-Boeing 737 fleet, Southwest is generating significant cash to drive fleet modernization and offset capital expenditures in support of our capital allocation strategy.  We are very pleased to partner with BBAM, one of the world's leading aircraft lessors, on this transaction."

For further information regarding this transaction, please refer to the Southwest Airlines Form 8-K filed with the SEC today.

About BBAM

BBAM is one of the world's largest and longest standing aircraft lessors providing over 100 airline customers in more than 50 countries with fleet and financing solutions, and the only significant manager in its sector focused exclusively on generating investment returns on third party capital. With more than 500 aircraft under management, BBAM employs over 150 professionals globally with offices in Dallas, San Francisco, Puerto Rico, Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich, and Dublin. BBAM is a full-service lessor and maintains its own in-house capabilities encompassing aircraft origination, disposition, lease marketing, technical maintenance, regulatory compliance, capital markets activity, tax structuring, legal, contracts and finance, for all asset types and strategies. Learn more by visiting www.bbam.com.

About Southwest Airlines Co.

Southwest Airlines Co. operates one of the world's most admired and awarded airlines, offering its one-of-a-kind value and Hospitality at 117 airports across 11 countries. Southwest took flight in 1971 to democratize the sky through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel and now carries more air travelers flying nonstop within the United States than any other airline¹. By empowering its more than 73,000² People to deliver unparalleled Hospitality, the maverick airline cherishes a passionate loyalty among more than 137 million Customers carried in 2023. Southwest leverages a unique legacy and mission to serve communities around the world including harnessing the power of its People and Purpose to put communities at the Heart of its success. Learn more by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship.

¹ Based on U.S. Dept. of Transportation quarterly Airline Origin & Destination Survey since Q1 2021
² Fulltime-equivalent active Employees

For further information, please contact:

BBAM Contact:
Sabah Sulaiman, BBAM Director of Corporate Administration
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1-415-848-5481

Southwest Airlines Investor Contact:
Southwest Airlines Investor Relations
214-792-4415

Southwest Airlines Media Contact:
Southwest Airlines Media Relations
214-792-4847
[email protected]

SOURCE BBAM US LP