Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot

Sort of. In the last 4 years American is only $1.5B ahead of debt repayment that was already scheduled. That came at the cost of cash on hand. They were willing to reduce their cash because operating cash flows weren't going to bring it down. Also they said they wanted to have total debt of under $35B by 2027, which they won't come close to making if they buy Sprit.

Also AA management has already said that of the 300 orders about 230 of them are replacing older planes. All of which will have to be financed or leased, making it harder for them to dig out of their debt hole and another reason they aren't buying Spirit in whole.