Negative Rating Actions Taken On European Airports Due To COVID-19 Restrictions

DUBLIN (S&P Global Ratings) March 26, 2020--The airport sector in Europe is facing an unprecedented plunge in air traffic as Europe has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the governments have introduced travel restrictions and quarantine orders. In addition, S&P Global Ratings now expects a eurozone and U.K. recession in 2020, which will likely slow the recovery in passenger traffic (see "COVID-19: The Steepening Cost To The Eurozone And U.K. Economies," published on March 26, 2020). As a result, we expect European airports to have materially weaker cash flows and credit ratios, while suffering from a highly uncertain business environment with an uncertain and more prolonged recovery than seen in the past. We acknowledge that there is high

...March 26, 2020 DUBLIN (S&P Global Ratings) March 26, 2020--The airport sector in Europe is facing an unprecedented plunge in air traffic as Europe has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the governments have introduced travel restrictions and quarantine orders. In addition, S&P Global Ratings now expects a eurozone and U.K. recession in 2020, which will likely slow the recovery in passenger traffic (see "COVID-19: The Steepening Cost To The Eurozone And U.K. Economies," published on March 26, 2020). As a result, we expect European airports to have materially weaker cash flows and credit ratios, while suffering from a highly uncertain business environment with an uncertain and more prolonged recovery than seen in the past. We acknowledge that there is high degree of uncertainty about the rate of the spread and peak of coronavirus outbreak. Under our current base case, we forecast that the number of passengers for European airports could fall by up to 35% compared with 2019....

Ratings Action