NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 9, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that American Airlines Inc.'s (B-/Negative/--) successful retention of its marketing alliance with Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL; D/NM/--) will not affect the ratings or outlook on American. We view this news as a modest positive for American and parent AMR Corp. (B-/Negative/--), compared with the status quo, and it avoids what would have been a clear negative if JAL had decided to ally with Delta Air Lines Inc. The main benefit to American will come from the planned creation of an "antitrust-immune" alliance with JAL, which should boost revenues and reduce costs of the two companies. Continuation of the alliance will not involve any capital contribution from
