Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport received a rating boost this week from S&P Global Ratings, which cited favorable traffic trends and strong financial metrics.
About $585.1 million of outstanding senior lien general airport revenue bonds were upgraded to AA from AA-minus, while the rating on $1.2 billion of junior lien GARBs rose to AA-minus from A-plus.
"The ratings upgrade reflects our view of PHX's very high activity levels and long history of favorable enplanement trends supported by serving an expanding service area economy, demonstrated financial resiliency during periods of lower air travel demand, and our expectation that management will maintain comparatively robust financial metrics considering future capital requirements," S&P's rating report said.
PHX Aviation Director Chad Makovsky said the upgrades recognize the airport's "disciplined approach" to financial management.
"These industry-leading ratings reflect positively on the exceptional financial performance of our team and will ensure that we are positioned to move forward with our robust capital investment program while maintaining competitive airline costs," he said in a statement.
The rating agency noted the airport's "robust" post-pandemic recovery, with enplanements surpassing 26 million in fiscal 2025, which ended June 30.
PHX reported
S&P said the airport's credit strengths "are somewhat offset by our expectation of a rising debt burden and airline cost structure from PHX issuing about $1 billion of debt to finance a large $2.8 billion (capital improvement plan) through fiscal years 2026-2031."
The airport said it anticipates issuing new money GARBs in the summer of 2027 to fund capital projects, including a second north concourse in Terminal 3, and has commenced a preliminary "visioning phase" of planning for the development of a West Terminal.
