American Airlines leadership knows they have a debt problem. That’s why the carrier is aggressively repaying its obligations with an unexpected payment of more than $1b this week. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline repaid early a $1.18b term loan backed by its slots at New York LaGuardia and Washington Reagan National airport Monday, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The debt was not due for another year, or until December 2023. And the payment was unexpected after American Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said in October that the airline would only repay roughly $540m in debt during the December quarter. Despite the news, American remains one of the most leveraged major US airlines and, while not necessarily in jeopardy, on many analysts’ lists of companies with high debt loads. American had $34b in long-term debt and finance lease obligations, excluding debt that is due within 12 months, at the end of September. That number balloons to nearly $53b when including all liabilities, including unfunded pension obligations. Much of that leverage came from its fleet renewal program during the 2010s that saw it replace hundreds of older Boeing 757 and 767, and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, with new Airbus and Boeing models. American’s long-term debt and finance leases load was down from a pandemic peak of $37.2b in the first and second quarters of 2021, but up $12.5b from the end of 2019.<br/>
oneworld
British Airways has apologised to customers after flights departing from the United States and elsewhere on Monday were grounded for several hours due to a technical issue. "Our teams have now resolved a temporary issue that affected some of our long-haul flight planning systems overnight, which resulted in delays to our schedule," BA, which is owned by IAG (ICAG.L), said in a statement. "We're sorry for the disruption caused to our customers' travel plans." Some passengers took to social media to report they had spent up to three hours waiting at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York. The technical issue did not affect flights that had already departed and was not a safety issue, BA said.<br/>
Finland's national carrier Finnair announced on Tuesday that it will increase flights between Helsinki and key destinations in Asia, including China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for the summer of 2023. "We are happy to be able to respond to the increasing travel demand between Europe and key Asian destinations," said Ole Orver, CCO at Finnair. Next year, Finnair will provide daily connections to HKSAR and Delhi, and will also operate 14 weekly connections between Finland and Japan. Currently, Finnair, the country's flag carrier and largest airline, flies five days a week directly between Helsinki and HKSAR.<br/>