Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) and Standard Chartered Bank have signed a USD850 million financing deal for seven B787-9s, the carrier said in a statement on April 14.

The transaction “demonstrates the confidence that the banking market has in Qatar Airways and also highlights the strong relationship between Qatar Airways and Standard Chartered,” the statement declared.

The brief statement gives few details, but media reports have speculated that the deal may be designed so that the airline can put forward some of its assets as collateral in exchange for loans required during the coronavirus crisis.

The ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Aircraft Data module shows that Qatar Airways currently has a total of seven B787-9s among its diverse fleet. Boeing delivered all seven, the first of 30 on order, to the airline at Doha Hamad International in late December. All of them subsequently flew to Victorville for further modifications but have since returned to Doha over the last three weeks, ch-aviation analysis of Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

“The bank has been a close partner of Qatar Airways for many years and have proven their support [sic] for the airline by closing this transaction during difficult times resulting from Covid-19,” Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said.

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters called it a “landmark deal at this difficult time.”