Kansas City Missouri

City of Kansas City, MO Source: Depositphotos

Featured Bond – Week of June 10, 2019:   Industrial Development Authority of the City of Kansas City, MO Airport Special Obligation Bonds

Overview

The Industrial Development Authority of the City of Kansas City, Missouri is issuing $851, 335,000 of Airport Special Obligation Bonds in two series for the Kansas City Airport Terminal Modernization Project.   The bulk of the bonds being offered will be issued as the Series 2019B  portion in the amount of $788.6 million,  subject to the federal Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT).  The second issue will be sold as Series 2019C  federal exempt, non-AMT bonds in the amount of $62.7 million.  Both series are also tax exempt in the state of Missouri.

The bonds will have a negotiated sale with an expected pricing date of  Wednesday,  June 12th. Morgan Stanley will lead the underwriting team as the lead managing underwriter for the sale.

The bonds are rated A2 by Moody’s, A  by S&P and A by Fitch.

About the Kansas City Airport & The Bonds

The Kansas City Airport saw a record number 22.2 million total enplanements during fiscal year 2018. There was a $6.71 cost per enplaned passenger during fiscal year 2018. The Kansas City metro area has a 14 county Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 2.1 million and a regional CSA 2018 population of nearly 2.5 million,  which has been growing at approximately a .9 of 1% rate annually since 2011.   The Air Service Area population serves a four state region and is the second busiest airport in the central United States based on enplaned passengers.     The closest other medium, hub airport in the central states region is in Omaha, Nebraska,  which is 171 miles away.

Southwest Airlines has the largest market share of the airlines serving the Airport with 51.2% of all travelers. The second largest carrier is Delta with 15.8%.

Fifty-six percent 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.

The improvements to the Airport coming from the proceeds of the Series 2019B and 2019C bonds are intended to update and reconfigure the airport, which was built in its existing state in 1972 to adapt to larger planes,  rebuild Terminal A to consolidate terminal activity,  modernize gates,  upgrade concession areas and better handle baggage  as well as to make other improvements.

The final maturity for the bonds will be repaid in annual serial and term maturities with the final payment in 2055.

Security for the Bonds

The 2019 bonds are special obligations of the city payable by the city subject to a City Council as a senior annual appropriations obligation for debt service.  The senior annual appropriation for the Airport obligations are to be derived solely from the net revenues and/or any other funds appropriated by the City Council.   Net revenues consist of all income, receipts, earnings and revenues received by or accrued to the City from the operation and ownership of Kansas City International Airport and other airports owned by and operated by the City after the payment of operation and maintenance expenses of such airports.  All senior appropriation obligation requirements are to be treated on a parity or equal basis of priority.

These details and more on purposes, security, risks and other matters pertaining to these Kansas City International Airport 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 th Industrial Development Authority of the City of Kansas City, MO (Kansas City International Airport).

Statistical Snapshot: Kansas City International Airport Selected Financial and Economic Indicators

Kansas City International Airport Financial Snapshot

Kansas City International Airport financial snapshot as of April 30, 2019 Fiscal Year Audit. Source: Merritt Research Services, LLC

Provided above is a quick FY 2018 snapshot of key financial characteristics of the Kansas Airport along with the medians for other median hub 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 calendarcity, 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.