DAE completes United Airlines 737 Max deal after six-month delivery push

DAE delivers 10 Boeing 737-9 jets to United Airlines, completing the mandate in six months

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Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) on Sunday said it bought back outstanding shares worth $350 million (Dh1.3 billion) in 2020.
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Dubai: Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has completed the delivery of 10 Boeing 737-9 aircraft to United Airlines, marking the close of a sale-and-leaseback mandate executed at a pace rarely seen in the industry.

The aircraft were delivered within six months of documents being signed, an unusually fast turnaround for a mandate of this scale. Firoz Tarapore, CEO of DAE, said the timeline reflected the strength of the partnership. “We appreciate United Airlines’ continued confidence throughout this expeditious transaction. Completed in just six months from document execution to mandate fulfilment, the DAE and United Airlines teams worked seamlessly together, demonstrating the flexibility, efficiency, and capabilities of both parties.”

The 737-9 aircraft form part of United’s fleet expansion strategy and support the carrier’s broader renewal and growth programme. Tarapore noted, “We are delighted to deliver these 10 next generation technology, fuel-efficient Boeing 737-9 aircraft, supporting United Airlines’ fleet growth. DAE looks forward to supporting the airline and deepening this relationship.”

Strengthening DAE’s Boeing footprint

The completion of this mandate further solidifies DAE’s position as one of the world’s largest owners and managers of Boeing aircraft. The company currently owns, manages, or has committed to own 236 Boeing jets, including 119 from the 737 Max family.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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