Ex-Im Bank’s first Tajikistan transaction

   The U.S. Export-Import Bank is supporting its first transaction in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, which includes the purchase of Boeing 737-900ER plane by Somon Air, an airline based in Dushanbe.
   This is Boeing’s first sale to Somon Air and the first export of its 737-900ER and “Sky Interior” aircraft to Central Asia. The planes are fitted with engines from CFM International in Cincinnati. Somon Air accepted delivery of its first plane from Boeing last week.
   Ex-Im Bank is providing an $80 million guarantee of the loan from the Private Export Funding Corp. (PEFCO). The financing is structured as an asset-backed finance lease secured by first-priority mortgages on the aircraft.
   Somon Air, the first privately owned airline in Tajikistan, began operating flights to Moscow in 2008. The airline presently operates regular flights to Frankfurt; Dubai; Istanbul; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Urumqi, China; and Moscow, St. Petersburg and several other cities in Russia.