Humberside-based air transport business Eastern Airways Europe said Thursday its future expansion plans are now backed up after securing refinancing from Santander Corporate Banking. Eastern Airways Europe is a regional air transport business operating in the UK and across Europe.
The business was founded in 1997 as a service for oil and gas workers living in the UK and working offshore. Since then, Eastern Airways has evolved to provide transport operations for other sectors and business users with scheduled services flying to airports throughout the UK, France, Norway and Belgium, and charter services including bespoke contract services and short-term charter services.
The company indicated it has recently won contracts with major oil companies, and the new long term agreement with Santander will enable the management team to focus on identifyin
g further business development opportunities. Richard Lake, Eastern Airways' CEO, said the move will allow it to create new jobs and face the post-crisis times with confidence.
Although Santander UK didn't release figures, Nick MacHugh, director at Santander Corporate Banking, described Eastern Airways' business plans as impressive.
“We have worked closely with the team at Eastern Airways and have been impressed with their vision for the future. At Santander, we want to support good businesses and owners that have strong and viable plans.”
Eastern Airways, which operates flights from Bristol Airport, took delivery of a second Embraer 145 regional aircraft earlier in the year, increasing the number of Embraer jets in its fleet to four.
It is UK’s second largest regional airline and operates a fleet of 30 aircraft consisting of a mix of jet and turbo-prop aircraft which are used on UK domestic services, French, Belgian and Norwegian scheduled flights and private charter services.
