Irish Company Orders 96 Jets for $2.75 Billion : Boeing, McDonnell Get Guinness Peat Business

An aircraft-leasing company based in Ireland has placed orders with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas for 96 jet airliners worth $2.75 billion.

A statement from Guinness Peat Aviation, one of the world’s leading leasing companies, said the order was the largest ever from Europe and one of the biggest in history.

The order is for 81 medium-range Boeing 737s and 15 McDonnell Douglas MD-83s, together with options on another 10 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series planes.

GPA Chairman Tony Ryan said his firm is also negotiating with Fokker of the Netherlands and Airbus Industrie concerning possible orders for the Fokker F-100 and the Airbus A-320.

The new Boeing and McDonnell Douglas planes, which will be delivered between August, 1987, and May, 1991, will bring GPA’s fleet of jet airliners to 187.

The company was founded 10 years ago by Ryan in partnership with the Irish national carrier Aer Lingus, Air Canada and Guinness Peat, a London trading and merchant bank group. Other principal shareholders are Mitsubishi, Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Prudential Insurance and General Electric Credit.

$25-Million Profit in 1985

Last April, the company completed a $125-million equity placement, the largest by any private company in Ireland. Considered to be one of Ireland’s most successful companies, it leases planes to airlines throughout the world.

Guinness Peat, based at Shannon Airport here in western Ireland, recorded a profit of $25 million last year.

In a statement Friday, Ryan said: “This enormous order is in response to the rapidly growing demand for our operating lease service and the varying needs of our extensive customer list.

“We firmly believe that short- to medium-range jets such as the B-737 and the MD-83 will always play a key role in the fleet structure of airlines throughout the world.”

The company plans to expand its fleet to 250 over the next five years. That would give it about 20% of the present world market for aircraft leasing.

In Seattle, Boeing said its order from Guinness Peat was worth $2.3 billion. In terms of the dollar value, Boeing added, it is the fourth-largest order for jet aircraft ever received by the company.

In Paris, a spokesman for the U.S.-French CFM International consortium said GPA’s order for 81 of the 737 aircraft would automatically mean a $560-million order for engines from the consortium.