HNA's Hainan air business model is viable, AerCap's Kelly says

AerCap Holdings is willing to work with Hainan Airlines Holding given its viable business model even as its parent HNA Group comes under intense pressure to repay mounting debts. “We’re working very closely with the Hainan group of course at the moment,” AerCap CE Aengus Kelly said Tuesday. “The issue around Hainan Airlines is not the airlines themselves -- they are viable business models -- so we’re willing to work with those airlines because we know there’s a viable business.” Debt-burdened HNA Group’s flagship unit Hainan Airlines, as well as Yunnan Lucky Air, are both customers of Aercap. After spending tens of billions of dollars on acquisitions, HNA has told creditors it will seek to sell about US$16b in assets in the first half of this year to repay debt and stave off a liquidity crunch. <br/>