Charlotte Skyline from flight into City
Featured Bond – Week of June 3, 2019: City of Charlotte, NC $182 Million in Airport Revenue Bonds
Overview
The City of Charlotte, North Carolina is issuing $182 Million in Airport Revenue refunding bonds. $141.9 million of this is Non-AMT and $40.6 million is AMT. The bonds will have a negotiated sale with an expected pricing date of Thursday June 6th. BofA Merrill Lynch is the lead managing underwriter for the sale. There are five purposes of the bonds:
- to refinance a portion of the 2017D BAN
- to acquire and construct improvements to Charlotte Douglas International Airport
- to pay capitalized interest on the 2019 bonds
- to fund a deposit to the debt service reserve fund
- and to pay the costs of issuance of the 2019 bonds.
The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA- by Fitch.
About Charlotte Airport & The Bonds
Charlotte Douglas International Airport saw a record number 22.2 million total enplanements during fiscal year 2018. There was a $1.26 cost per enplaned passenger during fiscal year 2018. The Charlotte region had a 2018 population of 2.6 million and the Air Service Area population was over 3.3 million. It is the only large airport hub in the Carolinas. Two-thirds of the total operating revenues in 2018 were from non-airline sources. These sources include things like parking, food and beverage, retail, and rental cars. Charlotte Airport has a capital improvement plan (CIP) through FY2024 of $3.06 billion; it is demand-driven and scalable.
The improvements to the Airport coming from the proceeds of these 2019 bonds span three categories – terminal complex, airfield, and airport services. Examples of the projects include expanded restrooms, replacing and adding more and wider escalators, construction of a 3-level concourse and connector, rehabilitation of runways, and replacing fuel storage tanks.
Security for the Bonds
The 2019 bonds are special obligations of the city payable from net revenues. The principal of, premium, if any, and interest on the bonds are not payable from the general funds of the City. The City of Charlotte has pledged its payment. The bonds are tax-exempt.
These details and more on purposes, security, risks and other matters pertaining to these City of Charlotte Airport Revenue bonds can the found in the official statement, provided by MuniOS. After registering, if needed, visitors can link directly to the official statement as well as an investor’s roadshow by searching for the City of Charlotte.
Statistical Snapshot: Charlotte Douglas International Airport Selected Financial and Economic Indicators
Charlotte Douglas International Airport financial snapshot as of June 30, 2018 Fiscal Year Audit. Source: Merritt Research Services, LLC
Provided above is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the Charlotte Douglas Airport along with the medians for other large airports, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness).
In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages.
These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.
Potential investors should rely only on the official documents and figures provided in the official statement (prospectus). Although the numbers presented in this summary are primarily derived from public documents, including issuer audits, issuer reports and other public sources such as federal reporting agencies , they are not intended to replace official information presented in connection with the bond sale. Medians may differ from official sales documents due to methodology or survey base variances.