RBS loans to private airline to buy planes

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed to loan East Star Airlines, a private Chinese carrier, funds for buying six Airbus A320 aircraft, Economic Observer reported (in Chinese). RBS will provide over US$400 million to finance the purchase, the first time the lender has funded a local airline. East Star's fleet is set to reach 28 planes by 2012, making it one of the country's larger private carriers. It began operations in Wuhan last year.