NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) June 28, 2002-- Standard&Poor's said today it lowered its corporate credit ratings and other ratings on five large U.S. airlines (see list below), due a disappointing revenue outlook and concerns over continued long-term risks relating to airport security, rising low-fare competition, increased use of discounted tickets by business travelers, and limited flexibility to reduce labor costs. The debt ratings for each company's securities were lowered one notch in all cases, excepting bond-insured obligations. Following the downgrades, the ratings of AMR Corp. (and subsidiary American Airlines Inc.) and Delta Air Lines Inc. were removed from CreditWatch, and a negative outlook assigned; while the CreditWatch status of UAL Corp. (and subsidiary United Air Lines Inc.)
