Friday 6 March 2009

Boeing 737 available on Bartercard

Sign of times: aircraft, boats,
Rolls-Royces up for exchange

IF you ever think that barter is for
rats-and-mice deals, think again.
Big-ticket items planes, castles,
boats and Rolls-Royces are
starting to turn up for sale in barter
exchanges.
It is a sign of the times.
"When we started in 1991, we
described barter as a recession
buster," recalls Wayne Sharpe,
founder of Bartercard, the largest
barter exchange in the world.
In this 21st century recession,
barter has come into its own.
Sharpe, chairman and chief executive
of Bartercard International,
jokes that he now has enough
aircraft to start an airline on barter.
More seriously, he says it is time
to set up a specialist division to deal
with aircraft sales and leasing.
"We are acting as broker for 15
aircraft on our books on behalf of an
international aircraft leasing company,
financiers and airlines."
Until six months ago, aircraft
were the furthest thing from his
mind.
Among the planes is a fleet of five
Boeing 737-800s, until recently
leased to an Asian regional airline.
The airline returned the fleet to the
leasing company as financial problems
started to bite.
"These planes are available on
seven year leases," Sharpe says.
The upper asking price is
$520,000 in cash and $82,000 a
month in trade dollars. (Large
airlines will be able to negotiate the
price down.)
Sharpe and his team are talking
to three British airlines that have
shown interest

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