Japan Airlines has secured an export credit agency (ECA)-backed facility from a group of commercial banks that will finance its purchase of an aircraft from US plane manufacturer Boeing.

The country’s ECA, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), is extending an ¥11.2bn (US$75mn) guarantee to a facility involving Bank of Kyoto, Chiba Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG and SMBC.

JBIC is covering the lenders for the principal and interest of their transition-linked loans to Japan Airlines (JAL), with the transaction propping up the import of one aircraft from Boeing.

The financing costs are tied to the firm’s performance in cutting CO2 emissions in the coming years, JBIC says.

“Transition-linked loans are a financial instrument where variable conditions, such as interest rate, apply depending on the borrower’s level of achievement toward a goal of CO2 emissions reduction,” JBIC says.

JAL has set a target of achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, and according to a JBIC statement, is being “proactive” in its efforts to replace existing aircraft with more fuel-efficient planes.

JBIC is a frequent backer of Boeing and Airbus imports into the country, signing several deals over the past decade. In 2020, as the aviation industry grappled with a sudden downturn in demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency extended at least three guarantees to the sector.