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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport raised to AA by S&P

BY SourceMedia | CORPORATE | 12:44 PM EST By Robert Slavin

S&P Global Ratings said it raised to AA from AA-minus Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The outlook is stable.

The upgrade affects $3.6 billion of the airport's $4.4 billion in debt, raising the rating to the same level S&P extends to only five other airports in the country ? Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Boston; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle. S&P rates no airports above AA.

The rating covers the airport's general airport revenue and hybrid passenger facility charge subordinate-lien bonds. The airport also has $837 million in commercial paper and customer facility charge revenue bonds outstanding, which S&P rates A.

"The upgrade reflects [the airport's] consistently very high activity levels and long history of favorable enplanement trends from serving an expanding service area economy, strategic importance to Delta Air Lines (DAL) (BBB/stable), ? limited competition, demonstrated financial resiliency during periods of lower air travel demand, and our expectation that [the airport] will maintain health financial metrics considering future capital requirements," said Credit Analyst Joseph Pezzimenti.

"The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the airport's capital plans and finances will be prudently managed, [its] enplanements will normalize near pre-pandemic levels, and financial metrics ? will be maintained at levels consistent with a strong financial risk profile," Pezzimenti added.

The GARBs are secured by a senior lien on the airport's general revenue and the PFC bonds are secured by a senior lien on passenger facility charge revenue and a subordinate lien on the airport's general revenues.

S&P said the airport has strong service area economic fundamentals in terms of gross domestic product per capita and a large and growing population.

The airport has historically operated in a fiscally prudent manner, the rating agency said.

Enplanements have gone up each year since 2021 and are now near the level the airport experienced in the peak year of 2019.

The GARBs and PFC bonds are rated AA-minus by Fitch Ratings. The ratings, if any, from the other ratings agencies couldn't be immediately ascertained.

The airport didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on the S&P upgrade.

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