Benin Airlines - Utilicraft Aerospace in $1.35 Billion deal

100 aircraft, $5.0M deposit paid, final assembly and exclusive marketing rights - Africa & Middle East

[ClickPress, Wed Dec 07 2005] Benin Airlines SA, and Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, Inc., executed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for 100 of Utilicraft’s FF-1080-300 ER (Extended Range) Freight Feeder aircraft, with an option on an additional 100.

The initial 100 aircraft transaction is valued at $1.35 Billion USD and has been secured by an initial $5.0M good faith deposit from Benin Airlines to Utilicraft’s lawyers today.

President Director General of Benin Airlines, Mr Luke Butler said "We are very happy to have achieved this agreement with Utilicraft following almost 2 years of meetings, discussions and negotiations. These aircraft are ideally suited for our proposed use in both Africa and the Middle East. On the one hand they are state of the art and the most cost efffective solution for freighters in the 10 tonne category. The aircraft can interline directly with wide body freighters such as Boeing 747's, MD11's and other long range aircraft without having to repack containers or re-contour pallets due to the size and dimensions of the Utilicraft cargo bay."

Butler said "This aircraft is just as happy landing on unprepared grass, gravel, or on sealed runways. It is a very robust, no nonsense purpose designed freighter that will give long service even in the most adverse conditions. It exceeds all noise requirements to be able to operate after curfew hours even in Europe and it costs less than half of the cost per tonne per mile of comparable freight aircraft in use today."

The agreements between the two Companies grant Benin Airlines exclusive Distributorship and a Final Assembly rights for a period of 25 years.

The Distributorship Agreement appoints Benin Airlines as the exclusive FF-1080-300 distributor for Africa and specific Middle East markets, including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Baharain, and Lebanon.

The Final Assembly Agreement will grant Benin Airlines the right to complete final assembly-kits of the Aircraft purchased by Benin Airlines.

Benin Airlines plans to locate their Final Assembly facility in either Africa, or one of the Middle East regions mentioned above.

Utilicraft will complete Final Assembly of the “kits” shipped to Benin Airlines at its planned facilities at Double Eagle II Airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Butler said "We are considering our best options as to where to establish our final assembley facilities. We have to consider what is the best location for us with the most favourable conditions on offer to establish this facility. It will mean a lot of investment, a lot of jobs, technology transfer, US FAA approvals for aircraft assembly and other benefits for the host country selected for the final assembly of our first 100 aircraft. We think the need for this aircraft is very high and expect substantial follow on orders within our region."

The FF1080-300 ER version of the aircraft is the same basic airframe of the -300 currently under development by Utilicraft Aerospace, but with a 10,000 gross weight increase to 80,000 lbs. This increase will allow the Aircraft to carry additional fuel for a max range of 2,000 nautical miles including IFR reserves, with 20,000 lbs., in containers, in five A-1, A-2, or A-3 containers, or ten LD3 containers, or a combination of containers and pallets measuring 88 in. x 125 in. each.

Benin Airlines intends to operate the aircraft as feeder freighters in the growing African and Middle East airfreight markets, to offer them on wet lease ACMI basis (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance included), as well as dry lease and sale.

About Benin Airlines SA:

Benin Airlines is new airline being formed to be the first genuine low cost African airline to operate direct flights across sub-Saharan Africa and to Europe, Middle East, and the Americas commencing operations in second quarter 2006. Benin Airlines is a private company formed with an investment of $250M. Launch operations include 2 x 747-200F cargo aircraft, 2 x 747-400 and 5 x 737-300 passenger aircraft.

Benin Airlines SA – Contact Information
Luke Butler – President Director General
10 BP 890, Cotonou – Benin
Tel: +229 97 265 669
lukebutler@afraairlines.com

FF-1080-300 ER

Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, Inc., (UAI) was formed, in 2004, to target the significant problem of addressing the overnight express, international supply chain, e-commerce, and global third party logistics entities, inability to provide effective “containerized” fulfillment and distribution in the medium haul (or feeder) route segments of air cargo. The result of the Company’s research and development is a new air vehicle, the FF-1080-300 Freight Feeder aircraft, capable of cost-effectively carrying standard industry air containers on medium range/medium density routes, combined with an on-board integrated air cargo information and tracking system.

For more information visit the Company’s website at www.utilicraft.com .

For more information on the FF-1080 Aircraft contact:
John J. Dupont – President, CEO
Email: jd@utilicraft.com
Direct Number: +1 505 699-7848
Fax: +1 505-212-0296

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