PHOENIX - Fitch Ratings upgraded the San Francisco Airport Commission's approximately $77.6 million series 1997A and 2000A special facility lease revenue bonds to A-minus from BBB-plus.
The bonds are primarily secured by facility rent payments derived from charges paid by airlines using the jet fueling facilities at SFO. The bonds are backed solely by the facility payments made by SFO Fuel Co., not from the general revenues of the airport or the municipal government. There are 37 airline members of SFO Fuel, accounting for approximately 97% of total fuel volume at the airport last year. Facility lease payments are approximately $9 million per year, Fitch said Sept. 11.
"The upgrade reflects steadily increasing fuel demand coupled with operating expense containment that has led member cost per gallon to be largely unchanged since 2007," Fitch said in upgrading the bonds. The agency also cited the fact that SFO Fuel has a virtual monopoly on fuel at the airport. Fuel consumption increased 2.6% in 2014 from the prior year.
