Air Transport Services Group - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Air Transport Services Group Q2 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen only mode. After this week's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automatic message advising your hand is raised. Please note that today's conference may be recorded. I will now hand the conference over to your speaker host today, Joe Payne, Chief Legal Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Joe Payne (Chief Legal Officer and Secretary)

Good morning, welcome to our Q2 2023 earnings conference call. We issued our earnings release yesterday after the market closed. It's on our website, atsginc.com. Let me begin by advising you that during the course of this call, we will make projections and other forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and other future events may differ materially from those we describe here. These forward-looking statements are based on information, plans, and estimates as of the date of this call. Air Transport Services Group undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in underlying assumptions, factors, new information, or other changes. These factors include, but are not limited to, unplanned changes in the market demand for our assets and services, our operating airline's ability to maintain on-time service and control costs.

The cost and timing with respect to which we are able to purchase and modify aircraft to a cargo configuration. Fluctuations in ATSG's traded share price and in interest rates, which may result in mark-to-market charges on certain financial instruments. The number, timing, and scheduled routes of our aircraft deployments to customers. Our ability to remain in compliance with key agreements with customers, lenders, and government agencies. The impact of current supply chain constraints, both within and outside the US, which may be more severe or persist longer than we currently expect. The impact of the current competitive labor market, changes in general economic and/or industry-specific conditions, including inflation, and other factors as contained from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-Q we will file next week.

We will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures from continuing operations, including adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per share, adjusted pre-tax earnings, Adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted free cash flow. Management believes these metrics are useful to investors in assessing ATSG's financial position and results. These non-GAAP measures are not meant to be a substitute for our GAAP financials. We advise you to refer to the reconciliations to GAAP measures, which are included in our earnings release and on our website. Now I'll turn the call over to Rich Corrado, our President and CEO, for his opening comments.

Rich Corrado (President and CEO)

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Our Q2 results highlight a sequential rebound in our passenger airline operations and continued top-line growth across our principal businesses. Additional military and commercial flying, as well as operating efficiencies, led our ACMI Services segment to report a 10% year-over-year gain to $24 million in pre-tax earnings for the Q2. That was a $26 million improvement from the Q1. CAM, our aircraft leasing business, grew revenues 2% versus the prior year, but pre-tax earnings were down. It has leased more Boeing 767-300 freighters and accepted scheduled returns of several 767-200s over the prior 12 months. We expect a record pace of new freighter lease deployments in the second half, including six already delivered this quarter.

Accordingly, we're maintaining our full year Adjusted EBITDA guidance and have raised our Adjusted EPS guidance range by $0.10 from the targets we set in May. At the same time, we're lowering our CapEx guidance for this year by $65 million to reflect fewer aircraft purchases for 2024 conversion and fewer than planned overhauls for our engines for 767-200 freighters. These reductions will have a positive impact on this year's cash flows. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Quint Turner to review our financial results for the Q2. Quint?

Quint Turner (CFO)

Thank you, Rich. Welcome to everyone on the call this morning. As Rich just mentioned, our Q2 results reflect sharp improvement from the Q1 in our ACMI services segment, stemming from both improved revenues and cost efficiencies. In our leasing segment, we benefited from 5 more leases of 767-300s from a year ago, offset in part by higher interest expense and the effects of 10 767-200 lease returns over the last 12 months. The next slide summarizes our financial results for the quarter. Our revenues grew $20 million or 4% versus a year ago to $529 million for the Q2. Both of our principal segments, as well as our other businesses in total, contributed to that increase.

Our GAAP pre-tax earnings were down $20 million, and basic earnings per share were $0.54 versus $0.73 in the Q2 of 2022. On an adjusted basis, pre-tax earnings fell $9 million to $58 million, and EPS was down $0.02 to $0.57. In our aircraft leasing segment, CAM, pre-tax earnings were down $9 million compared to a year ago at $31 million. That was primarily due to the scheduled return of 10 767-200 freighters since June 2022, including 7 during the Q2. CAM's allocated interest expense rose $5 million, and depreciation rose $2 million. CAM leased 5 more 767-300s externally over that same period. In our ACMI Services segment, pre-tax earnings were $24 million, up $2 million.

The increase in earnings at ACMI Services was primarily attributable to significantly improved performance in our passenger airline operations, driven by both military and commercial charter flying, as well as greater operating efficiencies. Airline block hours were up 1% versus the prior year quarter, as increased cargo hours more than offset a slight drop in passenger hours. Cargo hours increased 1% for the quarter, primarily on more hours flown for our customers' express networks. Passenger block hours were down 2% for the quarter versus a year ago. That included more block hours for our 757 combi operations, which resumed services over a trans-Pacific route last fall. Turning to the next slide, our Q2 EBITDA was $157 million, flat compared to the prior year period.

On a trailing 12-month basis, Adjusted EBITDA was down $2 million to $621 million. On this slide, you can see CAM's Adjusted EBITDA for the trailing 12 months, which we are breaking out for the first time. CAM's share of total Adjusted EBITDA has remained at approximately two-thirds over the period shown. CAM is the foundation of our company, and we project its Adjusted EBITDA to grow as global demand for its leased mid-size freighters continues. On the next slide, you'll see that capital spending reflects strong freighter market demand for our leased freighter fleet. Sustaining CapEx, mainly for airframe and engine maintenance, technology, and other equipment, is higher this year due to the timing of aircraft engine overhauls, but will decline significantly next year as the number of projected engine overhauls decreases.

Total CapEx was $413 million for the first six months of the year, including $303 million for growth. That's more than halfway to our projected $785 million total spend in 2023, of which $545 million is for growth. That spending will primarily fund purchases of feedstock aircraft and freighter conversions. The next slide updates our adjusted free cash flow, as measured by our operating cash flow, net of our sustaining CapEx. Operating cash flows increased $68 million to $192 million and $631 million for the trailing twelve months. Adjusted free cash flow was $423 million over the last twelve months. That equates to nearly $6 per share based on our outstanding shares as of June 30th, and demonstrates the cash-generating power of our company.

On the next slide, you can see that available credit under our revolver facilities in the US and abroad was $419 million at the end of the Q2. Operating cash inflows are expected to largely fund our spending through 2024, we expect our debt to Adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio to remain under 3 times. Our balanced capital allocation strategy continues to include share repurchases. We bought back 950,000 shares in the Q2, following 1 million shares in the Q1. Since the restart of share repurchases in October 2022, we have repurchased 4 million shares, demonstrating our conviction to share with investors the returns ATSG's investments and business performance generate. With that summary of our financial and operating results, I'll turn it back to Rich for some comments on our operations and outlook. Rich?

Rich Corrado (President and CEO)

Thanks, Quint. Let me begin with a few key drivers of our Q2 results, which support our confidence about our continued progress through the rest of the year. The best news for the quarter was the strong rebound in our ACMI Services segment. As already noted, our airlines posted a 10% pre-tax earnings gain to $24 million versus a year ago, which is a $26 million sequential improvement from the Q1. Passenger flying was the biggest change factor. Omni's operation for its military and other government customers picked up significantly, and it won new business with commercial customers, compared with Q1 levels. Our cargo airlines flew more hours than a year ago, due primarily to the eight more customer-assigned 767 freighters in their CMI fleet versus a year ago. CAM continues to navigate a year of record lease deployments.

3 of our projected 19 freighter leases for 2023 were completed in the first half. Of the 16 remaining, the first 6 have been leased in just the last 30 days, including our first 2 A321s. 7 767-200 freighters returned to CAM as planned during the Q2. Most of those returning 200s were part of the 12 CAM began leasing to Amazon in 2016 to jumpstart its air express network. We expect to operate 7 for Amazon, at least through peak season. We continue to regard the 767-200 freighter as a key player in air express networks around the world, operating over shorter routes, but with more capacity than narrow-body freighters. Our decisions about the future of 200 airframes that come off lease are case by case and based on cycle life and maintenance requirements.

We are actively engaged in discussions to re-lease or sell most of those returning 767-200s. We project that the new owner of any 767-200 airframe we sell will need to contract with CAM for engine power. If you look at the next slide, you may recall that in May, we mentioned our flexibility to modify our CapEx plans. That spend for 2023 is now expected to be approximately $785 million, $65 million lower than prior guidance. That reduction reflects fewer planned engine overhauls and the removal of two A321 feedstock purchases from our plan when the counterparty decided not to move forward with a sale-leaseback transaction. Investments in A330 freighter conversions will continue as planned, including our first three feedstock purchases this year for lease to customers in 2024.

We're eager to launch this next phase of our fleet development plan with our first A330 conversion induction in October and a second into conversion by year-end. While we remain confident in global e-commerce growth, driving strong demand for our midsize freighters, we intend to time our feedstock investments when possible, to more closely tie purchases to induction dates. We are focusing on generating strong returns on capital and making sure we see the demand to support the investments in the conversions. We currently expect to spend less for both growth and sustaining CapEx in 2024 than this year. The reduction in our fleet investment outlook gives us even more flexibility to return capital to shareholders, should our shares remain undervalued. Our next slide covers our outlook for the rest of the year.

With the positive trends we see in passenger airlines and a strong pipeline of freighter deliveries in the second half, we are maintaining our Adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2023 of $610 million to 620 million, but raising our Adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $1.65 to 1.80 per share. That increase reflects our projections for second-half lease freighter deployments and improved ACMI services performance. Our balance sheet remains strong. We have a leadership position in the mid-size freighter leasing market and a blue-chip roster of large express and e-commerce customers. Those factors are why we remain attractive to credit investors who support our credit facility and debt securities. Our employees stand ready to deliver our 2023 goals and generate long-term superior returns for our shareholders.

Along those lines, I'd like to thank the teams at all of our businesses for their continued efforts to deliver unparalleled services to our customers, and especially those who maintain solid on-time performance during Amazon's Prime Day event last month. That concludes our prepared remarks. Quint and I, along with Mike Berger, our Chief Strategy Officer, and Paul Chase, our Chief Commercial Officer, are ready to answer your questions. Operator?

Operator (participant)

Certainly. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question at this time, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To enjoy your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question coming from the line of Frank Galanti with Stifel, your line is open.

Frank Galanti (Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the ACMI segment. It's really good to see that, that margin improvement there. Can you sort of talk about expectations for that segment for the remainder of the year? How does that generally look from a seasonality perspective, and then sort of from a visibility perspective, from what, what you've seen on contract refreshes and the passenger demand?

Rich Corrado (President and CEO)

Hi, Frank, and thank you for the question. On the passenger side, we are -- we have evaluated the outlook in terms of the, you know, we had a nice improvement in the Q2, and we see a strong Q3 from the passenger side. The Q4 is, you know, this is generally a seasonal quarter for the passenger side, and we look to that to be, you know, flat as compared to last year. We're confident that the gains that the passenger segment gained in Q2 will continue in Q3 and be flat for the Q4, which is generally what they see.

On the cargo side, we've been encouraged by, you know, the block hours that we're gonna be doing in the Q4. It's really gonna be flat over last year, but when you compare that to what's going on in the general cargo market, which has been fairly weak, you know, we, we, we look to be, you know, holding our own. Remember, you know, our, our ACMI operations on the cargo side are generally or, or are targeted at specific network, flying that's, that's geared towards e-commerce and integrated packages, and that has reacted differently to the downturn than general air cargo.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

If I could just answer the seasonality piece, and it's Mike Berger. As Amazon announced, they had record Prime Days earlier, a few weeks back. That normally translates to a very strong seasonality season as we get into peak season as well.

Frank Galanti (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, that's helpful. Then switching over to CAM. It looks like the growth CapEx has sort of come down, but that looked like it was mostly from engines and engine maintenance and then the 2 A321s. Have there been any changes this year for the 767s or the A330s? What are you seeing for demand for those planes?

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

On the demand for both the 767s and the A330s, we're, we're on plan for the year. We'll deliver 14 767-300s this year, and 5 A321s, and we'll be putting our 2 A330s into conversion. All the customer demand remains strong, and all of those aircraft that, that we, we have in our plan going forward. You, you'll, you'll recall, we had- we guided to 20 last quarter, we, we dropped that to 19, and that's really related to 1 aircraft that is will be out of conversion, but we'll be awaiting a service bulletin and, and kit from Airbus.

We've tried several different avenues to try to improve the timing on that, but it looks like it's going to push to next year, in the Q1.

Frank Galanti (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. Thanks very much.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Thanks, Mike.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Jack Atkins with Stephens Inc. Your line is open.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay, great. Good morning, guys. Congratulations on a nice rebound quarter here.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Thanks, Jack.

Frank Galanti (Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning, Jack.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

I guess, you know, Quinn, if I could maybe start, I, I just would love to make sure expectations are calibrated correctly for the Q3. I mean, how are you thinking about, you know, within the context of the EBITDA guidance, how are you thinking about results sequentially? Would you expect them to be, you know, fairly consistent, maybe a little bit of improvement? Just want to make sure, you know, we're, we're all kind of thinking about that within the context of, you know, your, your, you know, your, your outlook.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah, appreciate the question, Jack. You know, I think that, you know, Q3, of course, as we, as we mentioned on the CAM side, we had some returns that came back, so you'll get sort of the, you know, full quarter effect, because some of those came back during the Q2 there. On the ACMI Services side, you know, we're expecting a very similar strong, you know, performance there. I think overall, Q3, you know, as a whole, you know, ATSG will look similar to Q2 in terms of, you know, the production.

I think the, the sequential progress then will be more evident in the Q4, because there you'll have, you know, all the deployments that Mike's mentioned contributing, and we, we do expect a sequential improvement in Q4 right now in the second half. Of course, we've given you our guidance range on EBITDA, so you know kind of what the, what the whole second half is projected at. Hopefully that helps you a little bit.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Yeah. No, that's great. That's perfect, and I appreciate that, that context. I guess maybe, maybe shifting gears to, to the, the passenger operations and just maybe expanding on that a bit. You know, it looks like you made some changes from a leadership perspective there during the quarter. Could you maybe talk about just the progress that you've made in terms of recouping some of the inflationary costs that you've been seeing? I mean, do you feel like you've, you've, you've made the progress that you wanted, or, or is there additional sort of opportunity left to go to, to kind of get that business back operating like you'd want?

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah, thanks for the question, Jack. In terms of Omni's passenger operations, they were already on their way to operating efficiencies in the Q1, we're able to leverage that, in the, you know, during the Q2 for, for improvement. They reduced their headcount, is one thing, just through attrition. We didn't furlough anybody, they were able to, you know. Many times they fly into markets where they may make one stop, or they may, they may go through there for a full quarter. They're able to negotiate, you know, for ground handling, for catering, and some other things to get better cost efficiencies out of those operations. They've also looked at real estate.

They've really done a nice job with, you know, kind of looking at any, any cost in their operation and trimming that out. They've done a good job in getting additional revenue. They sold 3 ACMI opportunities, commercial opportunities outside the government business that were multi-month opportunities that, that, that, they'll leverage probably some of them through October and some will end in the Q3. They were able to do both, you know, improve both on the revenue side, and both on the, and, and on the cost side. The government did help. Their block hours picked up in the Q2. Again, you know, Omni's got a seasonal tone to it, and this, and generally, the second and Q3 are their strong season.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay. No, that's, that's great to hear, and glad that business is, is seeing some improvements there. I, I guess maybe for my last question, shifting gears here to CapEx, you know, you, you guys definitely sort of heard the, the voice of the shareholders, I think, just in terms of, of the, the CapEx plans, and I think it's encouraging to see you kind of trim it for this year. As you're thinking about next year, in 2024, you know, you talked about 2024 CapEx being below 2023. You know, I know you're still forming your plan, but is there a kind of a way to think about order of magnitude? You know, the, to, to what degree can 2024 CapEx be below 2023?

I know you still have probably you have, you have more room to work that than you do 2023. Just would be curious to kind of get your take on that.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah, we've been, we've been looking at the 2024 CapEx since the beginning of the year, as you know. You're right, you know, we, we, we heard the shareholders loud and clear. You know, we, we still have great growth opportunities in front of us, but there's some efficiencies we looked, from a, a cash-to-cash cycle. In other words, you know, when we buy an airplane, how long does it take us to put it through conversion? Historically, you know, due to the, the feedstock environment on the 767 in particular, and our... You know, we normally like to buy multiple aircraft from an operator. We were buying, you know, lots of airplanes and, and weren't necessarily able to, you know, have as much, control, if you will, over the deliveries of those.

Going forward, we're looking to, to minimize that. Take delivery of an airplane in the year in which we're going to do the conversion rather than, than, than have them parked. In looking at that and looking at some of the programs and deals that we've going on for the feedstock for 2024, we feel we'll be able to reduce the CapEx without really impacting the delivery profile that we've got lined out for that. If I were to, you know, you know, we haven't done, you know, exact calculations yet. Order of magnitude, you know, maybe a, maybe $100 million lower than 2023. Again, you know, we're not, we're not guiding to that number.

We're just, we're just looking at where we can be for, given the demand that we have and, and, what we can set up for the future.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay. Well, I promise I'll hold you to that number. No, I think that's great that you guys are able to find efficiencies that way and, you know, lower CapEx while still, you know, maintaining the opportunity for growth. That's great to hear. Congratulations again, I'll pass it on.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Michael Ciarmoli with Truist. Your line is open.

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning, guys. Nice results. Thanks for taking questions.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Good morning, Mike.

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Quint, maybe just, just mechanical here, on, on sort of the second half. I'm assuming some of the debt paydown retired, some of the convertible. The share count went down, but the second half adjusted earnings looks to be lower than the first half, EBITDA up. Is there something, is it just interest expense, or what's that kind of disconnect with EBITDA being up first half, but adjusted earnings being down first half?

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Well, there's, you know, in terms of the, of course, the guidance change, you know, it was centered a lot on interest and depreciation, Michael, because-

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

... you know, we've had, you know, for one thing, as, as, we talked about in the remarks earlier, you know, we had airplanes that I think we were expecting to get 6 airplanes deployed during the Q2, and I think we got 1, right?

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Then in the last 30 days, we deployed 6 lease, you know, new leased airplanes, which is pretty remarkable. Since the quarter ended, we deployed. You know, so we've had some sliding of CapEx spend, which of course has a positive impact on the, on the interest expense, and also, we don't start depreciating until assets go into revenue service.

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Yep.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

That, you know, that had a positive impact on that as well. Then the CapEx reductions, you know, making our CapEx spend more efficient, you know, as Rich just described. You know, some engine overhauls that, you know, we were able to reduce our CapEx projection by. All that combined has had a favorable impact on, you know, both those line items, depreciation and interest.

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. Got it, that's helpful. Then just, can you give us an update on status of negotiations with with the pilots union? I mean, it, I guess it sounds like still status quo, and you don't kind of think anything's imminent here, either resolution or one way or another, but just maybe a general update on what's happening there.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah. Thanks, Michael Ciarmoli. It's Rich Corrado. Yeah, so we're in mediation with both of our pilot unions at Omni and at ATI. As we've said before, we've, we've always been able to come to agreement with our unions, and, and our goal always is to, to get the right, get the right contract where, where we can attract and retain, you know, the pilots that we have. And then also have the cost structure that we're able, from which we're able to compete for business, and that's, that's our goal, and, and we've maintained that. We don't expect that either CBA will be settled prior to 2024. So it's pretty much-

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

... similar to what we talked about last quarter.

Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. Okay, perfect. Thanks, guys. I'll jump back in the queue.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Thanks, Mike.

Jack Atkins (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Thomas Fitzgerald with Cowen. Your line is open.

Thomas Fitzgerald (VP and Lead Airlines Analyst)

Hi. Thanks very much for the time, everyone. The last couple of quarters, you've mentioned this, this theme about the, how many less freighters were retired during the pandemic than, than in a normal period. I was just wondering if you could remind or just walk investors through how. Are you already seeing that in the lease rates for your freighters and the longer-term opportunity in, in that freighter market as, as demand seems like it's really going to inflect higher in the middle part of the decade? It just seems like an exciting theme, and you're probably the best way to play it longer term. Thanks very much.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah. Where we're, we're seeing playing, you know, playing out, and you're right, just to, for, to recall, you know, during a normal year pre-pandemic, about, about 70 freighters were retired, and then that, that skinny down to about 15 during each year, during the pandemic, those 3 years. There was a pent-up demand for retiring assets. You know, what we're seeing is, a lot of the, you know, not, not in our segment, but the 737-400s are being, being retired and replaced by 737-800s or A321s, which, which is good for our segment because we're, we're, you know, as you know, we're, we're getting into that aircraft. It's, it's one of those things that we're keeping a close eye on.

There's a lot of larger airplanes coming out that have been announced, MD-11s out of UPS and FedEx, as an example. Those are being replaced, you know, predominantly by 767s by those operators. There is some, some definite movement in terms of, you know, retirements and replacement freighters. In the forecast, and I appreciate you mentioning that the forecast from Boeing and Airbus, over the next 20 years, is to see new freighters in excess of 2,500 and 2,800. If we skinny that down to what we're really focused on from a medium widebody standpoint, that's anywhere from just under 900 to just over 1,200. Demand for freighters over the next couple of decades is gonna be, continue to be strong.

The Boeing and Airbus forecast was just raised 5, another 5% recently. Real strong validation of what we're doing.

Thomas Fitzgerald (VP and Lead Airlines Analyst)

Thanks very much. That's really helpful. Then just kind of curious, another big theme that's been coming up on the calls is the opportunity in e-commerce and emerging markets. I'm just curious if you have anything, anything new or anything interesting to share with investors or what's going on in that space? Thanks very much.

Paul Chase (Chief Commercial Officer)

Sure, Paul Chase here. As we've stated before, right, the assets that we deploy are targeted at these global e-commerce and integrator networks. In many reports, you're seeing that these networks are projecting double-digit growth outside the United States, and you're seeing, you know, continued cross-border barriers to e-commerce. They're facilitating more movements of door-to-door goods, you know, between these countries. When you look at our freighter deployments, you know, roughly 80% of those aircraft are going outside the United States, so we're confident in the long-term outlook.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question coming from the line of Christopher Stathoulopoulos with Susquehanna. Your line is open.

Christopher Stathoulopoulos (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Rich or Quint, what was utilization for the fleet in 2Q? I guess in block, block hours per segment or however you typically measure that. Then if you could break it out on the passenger side, what it was for the US DoD versus commercial.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Chris, this is Quint. We had the total block hours in the Q2 were about 46,800, roughly. I'll round it to the nearest hundred, 46,800 block hours. In terms of the DoD, the DoD made up, you know, you're talking about our Combi flying. You know, we do the 757 Combi flying, and we also do passenger flying for the DoD, and that was about 7,500 of those hours.

Christopher Stathoulopoulos (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Then on a per-day basis, I just want to see if you were, if you got back to, you know, where you typically are or where you need to be.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Well, I mean, certainly sequentially, that was a, you know, a nice increase as we talked about. You know, we last quarter, you you recall that was part of the explanation on, on the results last quarter was some lower hours there. Nice, nice increases sequentially. You know, when you're comparing to the prior year, keep in mind, you know, we had the things going on in Europe that were taking longer, segments. You know, we were flying back and forth to Europe, and, and, so the hours were actually higher in Q2. If you're talking about, still talking about the DoD, those hours were higher. We also were not operating a long route for the combi. You know, we've talked about that, right?

There's what we call the deep Pacific route, which would, you know, with those 757 combis. That was added last fall, so it wasn't in the Q2 a year ago. You know, we were, we were flying like 8,000 hours for the, you know, a little over 8,000 hours in the Q2 a year ago, but those were longer routes. You know, you had, you had that going on, but, you know, in terms of rate per hour, I think, you know, Omni, you know, realized some benefit from a better revenue or rate per hour this year than they had in the prior year.

Again, that, that is part of the, that's one of the drivers of the success, you know, that we spoke of with our, our passenger results for Q2, passenger operations.

Christopher Stathoulopoulos (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. On the 767-200s, could you just remind us the age of that aircraft in years or, or, or cycle times? Then how does the efficiency, I guess, fuel compare to the 767-300s? Just trying to-

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

... get a sense of what the appetite might be for those 200s versus the 300s, which are more widely used. Yeah, Rich will jump in here, but just remember, the 200s, you know, what we talk about is our useful life post-conversion. Because remember, the cargo conversion for an aircraft is really substantial, right? And we've talked about that, you know, the heavier, heavier structures that are, that are put in, the upgrades to the cockpit. It, it kind of comes out as a newly built airplane. And we generally expect to get, you know, kind of 20 years post-conversion. A lot of the 767-200s that we're talking about went into service in the late 1990s, right? Well, for the first conversion. Yeah, coming out of conversion, right? Right.

They've, they've, they've sort of achieved that kind of lifespan that I just described. The 767-300 fleet, in comparison, is relative, is, is, is quite young in terms of age, since it came out of conversion. I mean, I, I don't have. You know, I haven't calculated the average lately, but it, it was, like, 5 years, 4 or 5 years out of conversion. Because, remember, we put in significant numbers of those as our-- as e-commerce has picked up, and as we have, as CAM has, has begun producing, you know, double-digit numbers of, of 767-300s. Our 763 fleet is, is pretty young in that respect.

In terms of cycle life, you know, and you're right to focus on that because that, that is more relevant, you know, in determining when an airplane might be getting nearer a point where it makes some economic sense to, to, perhaps retire it. For the 200s, what we've talked about is kind of 50,000 air cycles on the airframe as a, as a benchmark. The reason for that is, isn't that you have to take it out of service at that level or anything, but there are some additional maintenance inspection requirements that come into play, you know, when the airplane comes in, in for its C check. That probably drives some additional cost because, you know, you have to open up more areas and, and look at them to comply with those requirements.

There is a, I think there's a, an aft pressure bulkhead AD. It's not particularly onerous. You know, I think it, I don't know, costs $1.5 million to 2 million to take care of it. You know, those are things that come into play. As Rich mentioned, we evaluate the 767-200s on a case by case, but many of our 767-200 fleet is still pretty young in cycle life. I mean, we have some out there flying, Rich, that are in the 20,000s, right, in terms of their cycle time. Far away from the 50,000. Yeah.

If you look at the efficiency of the aircraft, which is, it's still, and even when you compare it to the 767-300 or any other comparable aircraft, an A300-600 Airbus, as an example, the 767-200, if you're only handling, you know, between 85,000 and 100,000 pounds in a lane, is the most efficient solution today, just, you know, despite the age of the aircraft. It's still an efficient aircraft for, for the missions that, that it's, it's pointed at. The 767-300 is a larger airplane, handles about 20 to 25% more more volume and weight. You know, you're, it's-- it really provides a different mission.

767-200 still is a, a good opportunity in the e-commerce market.

Christopher Stathoulopoulos (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, if I could squeeze in one more. On the CAM breakout, now that we have a sense of size as it relates to, to, to EBITDA, last time I checked, I think CAM was somewhere in the 25 or top 25-30 in terms of lessors. Is there a plan to get to top 20, top 15? If so, would that imply further diversification with aircraft type? I, I realize your business is very different from someone like an AerCap, but with the relative size here, even I'm curious how we should think about that business, let's say, through mid-decade and beyond, top 15, top 20 player. Thank you.

Mike Berger (Chief Strategy Officer)

Yeah. Thank you for the question. We, we really don't. It's really not in our view. We, we don't, we don't look to be ranked in a certain place. We don't think that really lowers our cost or raises our profitability. We're focused on investment returns and capital allocations in the best interest of our shareholders.

Christopher Stathoulopoulos (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. I'm not showing any further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Rich Corrado for any final comments.

Rich Corrado (President and CEO)

Thank you, operator. As we've talked, we've made some significant changes and got some operating efficiencies out of our ACMI operations over the past quarter. We're focused on returns, or capital returns, for our shareholders, we're looking forward to completing the year in great fashion. In our business, the number of freighter lease deployments, military charter flights or maintenance checks can vary materially from one quarter to the next. The long-term trend is consistent, predictable, and resilient. The freighters we lease, the aircraft we fly, and the support services we provide are essential to the fast and efficient delivery of military personnel, e-commerce goods, and other cargo within the many regional airwork networks now forming and expanding around the world.

We intend to remain at the center of that process, with the right mix of medium aircraft, talented people, and customer-focused businesses, and well-considered capital allocation strategies that will continue to generate superior returns for our investors over the long run. Thank you for listening to our call today, and as always, please stay safe.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, that does end our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.