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American faces debt concerns from Wall Street

American Airlines debt load is raising eyebrows on Wall Street, with analysts worrying about its ability to pay its bills if the economy slows down. The carrier had US$22.3b in long-term debt and capital leases, net current maturities, at the end of September, a quarterly financial filing shows. That was up 1.8% in Q3, and up less than 1% year-over-year. The amount is nearly $10b higher than United Airlines, and nearly $15b higher than Delta Air Lines. "American will be left with a material non-operating expense disadvantage if the economic cycle deteriorates significantly," write JP Morgan analysts in a report Tuesday, echoing concerns raised by other analysts during American's Q3 earnings call earlier in October. <br/>