There’s big news for the world’s busiest airport. The city is proposing a $1 billion municipal-bond borrowing in order to update and revitalize the Hartsfiled-Jackson International Airport.
According to a new report by Bloomberg,
The city [of Atlanta] plans to issue about $970 million of bonds subject to the alternative-minimum tax, and roughly roughly $50 million of non-AMT bonds, according to an Aug. 8 securities filing outlining the borrowing plans.
What would all of this money be used for?
It’s easy to say “updating the airport,” but what does that really mean? In the August 8th report filed by the city,
If and when issued, the proceeds of the Series 2025 Bonds will be used for the purpose of providing funds to, among other things: (a) finance or refinance the costs of planning, engineering, designing, acquiring, equipping and constructing of all or a portion of certain improvements to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (the “Airport”); (b) fund deposits to the applicable subaccounts of the Debt Service Reserve Account to meet the Debt Service Reserve Requirements related to the Series 2025 Bonds; (c) fund deposits to the applicable subaccounts of the Construction Fund to pay capitalized interest (if any); and (d) pay certain costs of issuance with respect to the Series 2025 Bonds.
To put it into more digestible words: this money would be used for the planning, designing and actual construction to modernize and update the airport’s terminals and concourses.
Wait… did you say borrow?
Yes, the $1 billion municipal-bond would be borrowed money, and would be backed by airport-generated revenues.
When will the bond be approved or denied?
According to the proposal,
The Series 2025 Bonds are expected to price on September 9, 2025* through a syndicate led by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC.
*The city also notes in its proposal that it reserves the right to change the timing and size of the scale and structure of this potential transaction.