Two other bond ratings agencies have affirmed the outlook on Denver International Airport’s debt rating as stable, a short time after Moody’s Investors Service lowered the outlook to negative from stable because of concerns about DIA’s capital spending plan.
DIA is preparing to sell at least $341.3 million in bonds to refund existing airport debt — a move that prompted Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s to review the airport’s bond rating and outlook.
Moody’s said it was concerned about debt funding for “noncore” projects, including a planned Westin hotel at the DIA terminal, as part of a $909 million 2011-16 capital spending program at the airport.
In affirming their A+ rating and stable outlook on about $4 billion in DIA debt, and the new bond offering, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s cited strong passenger traffic at the Denver airport, while S&P also highlighted DIA’s advantage of being “a strategic location for the east-west flow of domestic traffic.”
While generally optimistic, Fitch and S&P each said DIA’s bond rating could suffer if the airport’s financial performance is weaker than expected.
