DISTRESSED DAILY: American Airlines Could Target Debt Paydowns

American Airlines Group Inc.’s record third quarter might give the company room to address its debt load.

The airline is likely to soon return to 2019 profitability levels, giving it room to pay down near-term maturities or repurchase its debt at a discount next year, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Philip Brendel and George Ferguson wrote in a recent note.

With about $14.3 billion of liquidity at the end of the third-quarter, American could pay off some $4.3 billion of debt and still be within its target cash range, according to the note. That could save the company around $140 million in …