Fitch assigns American Airlines notes BB-

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a BB-/RR4 rating to American Airlines Group Inc.'s $500 million of senior unsecured notes. Fitch's current long-term issuer default rating for American is BB-. The rating also applies to its primary operating subsidiary, American Airlines, Inc., which guarantees the notes.

The proceeds will be used to pre-fund American's pension obligations and will be in addition to existing planned contributions for 2020. Fitch views the issuance as credit neutral.

Fitch does not include pension obligations in its leverage calculations so the issuance has a modest negative effect on leverage metrics. This is offset by pre-funding future cash obligations. Fitch also continues to expect American's gross debt balance to decline in 2020.

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