Santa Ana, CA – Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the underlying rating for the Airport Revenue Bonds of Orange County’s John Wayne Airport from A to A1. This upgrade applies to approximately $212 million outstanding Airport bonds.

According to Moody’s, the A1 rating is based on several factors: The strength of John Wayne Airport’s steadily growing service area economy, the solid origination and destination passenger base, it’s increasingly diverse carrier mix, a substantial internally funded capital program, and the established trend of satisfactory financial operations.

Another factor influencing Moody’s bond rating upgrade is the "ability of the Airport to generate sufficient operating surplus to be able to finance sizable capital projects on a pay-as-you-go basis, as well as defease over $28 million of 1987 revenue bonds in 1997."

"Management of John Wayne Airport is one of the things that Orange County does best, and this upgraded rating reflects that. It is also representative of the financial stability, strong operations, and outstanding service that John Wayne Airport provides for Orange County," said Loan Leblow, Interim Airport Director.