Embraer - Q1 2024

Transcript

Gui Paiva (Head of Investor Relations)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks for standing by. This conference call will be conducted in English, but please let me say a short announcement for Portuguese speakers. My name is Gui Paiva, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations for Embraer. I want to welcome you to our first quarter of 2024 earnings conference call. The numbers in this presentation contain non-GAAP financial information to facilitate investors to reconcile Eve's financial information and GAAP standards to Embraer's IFRS. We remind you that Eve's results will be discussed at Eve's conference call today at 9:30 A.M. New York time. It is important to mention that all numbers are presented in U.S. dollars, as it is our functional currency. This conference call may include statements about future events based on Embraer's expectations and financial market trends.

Such statements are subject to uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in this conference call. Except in accordance with the applicable rules, the company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements. For detailed financial information, the company encourages reviewing publications filed by the company with the Brazilian Comissão de Valores Mobiliários or CVM. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We'll give instructions later on for participation in the two Q&A sessions. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Participants on today's conference call are Francisco Gomes Neto, President and CEO of Embraer; Antonio Carlos Garcia, Chief Financial Officer; Luis Harrison, Corporate Communications Director, and myself. This conference call will have three parts. In the first part, top management will present the company's Q1 results.

In the second part, we'll host a Q&A session only for investors. Last, but definitely not least, we'll host a Q&A session only for the press. It is my pleasure to now turn the conference call to our President and CEO, Francisco Gomes. Please go ahead, Francisco.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Good morning and good afternoon to all. Thank you, and welcome to Embraer's first quarter 2024 results conference call. Our commercial activity in 2024 continues to be strong in all business units, as we see solid demand in the company's main markets. Historically, Q1 is seasonally our weakest quarter. However, in 2024, our revenues were up 25% compared to a year ago, and our deliveries increased 67%, helped by our production leveling initiatives. Speaking of production leveling, we expect further improvement as the year progresses, and more importantly, in 2025. These operational changes should help the company to increase efficiency, productivity, and post better financial results next year and years ahead. Our backlog reached $21.1 billion, which is the highest level over the past seven years.

In commercial aviation, American Airlines placed an order in March of 90 E175s, with 43 additional purchasing rights. The news demonstrated the still strong potential of this aircraft model in the U.S. market. Speaking of potential, we currently have concrete sales campaigns for more than 200 aircraft across the world, for both our E1 and E2 jet families, and also more concrete sales opportunities for our defense aircraft. We also kept the good momentum in executive aviation, with strong sales across all our aircraft. We recorded the highest Q1 in terms of sales, deliveries and revenues for the division over the past 80 years. Services and support continued to be a pillar of profitability and one of our main growth drivers. Its revenues increased 12% in Q1 2024 compared to a year ago.

The strong financial results of the company allowed us to reduce our gross debt without Eve by an additional $276 million during the quarter, a total reduction of $754 million over the past year. Consequently, our gross debt to EBITDA ratio is now below 5 turns. It is important to mention that when we consider all the risks and opportunities for the company, we feel comfortable and reiterate our 2024 operational and financial guidance. I will now present the operational results by business units in the next few slides. In commercial aviation, the backlog rose $2.3 billion, or +26% quarter-over-quarter, and reached $11.1 billion, with a book-to-bill ratio above one for the whole year. The American Airlines order reinforced the capability of our E175 model, and more importantly, the partnership between both companies.

Embraer and leasing company Azorra delivered the second E195-E2 to Royal Jordanian, the first E2 operator in the Middle East. In Executive Aviation, the backlog registered a sequential increase of $300 million, and ended Q1 with $4.6 billion, or +7% quarter-over-quarter, and a strong 2-to-1 book-to-bill for the quarter. We recorded our first set of firm orders from NetJets, whose deliveries will begin in 2025. In total, NetJets has purchase rights for 250 aircraft over the next 14 years. In Defense & Security, we hosted the first Embraer Defense Day in the U.S., with the C-390 Millennium and A-29 Super Tucano. The event included a diverse guest list of government authorities, military officials, prospects, and partners.

In early 2024, Embraer and Mahindra signed a MoU to jointly pursue the sale of the C-390 Millennium to the Indian Air Force. The first Hungarian C-390 successfully completed its maiden flight. The aircraft continues to receive international recognition on the back of its remarkable operational performance and capabilities. We should note, the division reported lower year-over-year revenues because of supply chain delays and business seasonality. In Service and Support, revenue grew 12% compared to the same period last year, with solid double-digit profitability. The Executive Jets backlog maintained the historical $3.1 billion record, reached in Q4 2023, with a 10%+ EBIT margin. Another important step for our services division was the induction of the first Pratt & Whitney GTF 1100 engine in OGMA, our MRO in Portugal.

The ramp-up should last 4 years, and we expect revenues to reach closer to $500 million in 2028. Last but not least, Eve, our eVTOL business, is on track to achieve important milestones in 2024. We have already selected now more than 90% of its component suppliers, and we successfully concluded a urban air traffic management trial. The company is on track to accomplish the next development steps. First prototype assembly conclusion, initial tests, and the definition of its certification basis. We also began the definition of our eVTOL factory configuration. All in, we estimate Eve should have a total cash consumption between $130 million and $170 million in 2024. I will now hand it over to Antonio, our CFO, to give you further details about the financial results, and then I will be back with closing remarks.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Thank you, Francisco. Good morning, and good afternoon to everyone. I would like to highlight our operational performance in Q1, despite the historical seasonality. Total deliveries revenue margins were higher than the same period in 2023, and the company's cash consumption was better than a year ago. Our focus in Q1 was on business and financial efficiency. We want to lay down an important stepping stones to put us in a comfortable position to achieve our full year guidance. Even with the ongoing supply chain constraints we continue to deal with. Let's now move to slide nine in the presentation. Deliveries. Executive Aviation delivered 18 jets in Q1, for an increase of 125% versus a year ago, and the highest Q1 level of the last eight years.

The light jet segment was 83% higher year-over-year, with 11 finals delivered, while the medium jets were more than triple during the period, with seven operators delivered. Meanwhile, commercial aviation deliveries were flat at seven aircraft in Q1, compared to the same quarter of 2023, with 4 E1s and 3 E2s aircraft. In Defense, we should note there were no C-390 deliveries in the first quarter of 2024 and 2023. We continue to work steadfastly to accomplish our production plan and reach the milestones in our defense and security programs, which includes 4 C-390 Millennium deliveries scheduled for the year. It is important to mention, the company has developed and is currently implementing a production leveling plan to mitigate the business seasonality. The plan should help the company to deliver less volatile financial results throughout the year, in the near- to medium-term future.

Slide 10, please. The company registered a strong total backlog of $21.1 billion at the end of Q1, for an increase of 13% quarter-over-quarter, and the highest number recorded over the past 7 years. Looking forward, our current backlog is accurate to our financial projections. The backlog for commercial aviation reached more than 380 aircraft in Q1, and it is valued at $11.1 billion, or $2.3 billion higher than the last quarter. Meanwhile, executive aviation ended with a solid $4.6 billion backlog, or 7% higher quarter-over-quarter, helped by the inclusion of the first Praetor 500 firm orders from NetJets. We should note NetJets has ordered 246 options, not included in the current backlog.

The backlog for service and support finished stable at $3.1 billion in Q1, while for defense and security, it decreased marginally by 4% quarter-over-quarter to $2.4 billion. Again, we should... There are 11 C-390 aircraft in three tender offers, one whose contract haven't been signed yet, and thus included in our backlog. Moving on to revenues, our top line reached almost $900 million Q1, or $180 million higher year-over-year for a 25% growth rate. If you look at the right chart, service and support represented around 41% revenue in Q1, followed by executive close to 27, commercial aviation for more 22, and defense at around 9%. Next slide.

We generated $47 million in adjusted EBIT in Q1, with a 5.2% margin driven by higher aircraft delivery compared to the same period of last year, and better consolidated gross margin. Meanwhile, adjusted EBIT was $7 million for an adjusted EBIT margin of 0.8%. Reported EBIT for the quarter was -$4 million, for a -0.4% margin. Both figures were better than the first quarter 2023, supported by higher volumes, better mix, especially in executive and service and support. Looking at the right chart, we can see executive aviation and service and support generated positive EBIT during the quarter, while commercial and defense presented negative results because of limited volume, supply chain delays, and more aircraft in the early stage of assembly. Slide 12, please.

In Q1, if we exclude Eve, we had an adjusted free cash flow consumption of $346 million, or $53 million better in Q1 2023, driven by customer advanced payments. The Q1 cash consumption is basically due to the increase in inventories to support higher deliveries in the upcoming quarters. This cash should be reverted as more deliveries take place throughout the year, and we have firm our $280 million or higher guidance for the cash generation in 2024. Moving to investment, and again, without the Eve, $47 million were allocated to research and development, $28 million to CapEx, and a net of $15 million to the Pool Program in Q1, for a $90 million total compared to $82 million a year ago.

We highlight our capital allocation continues to be focused on segments with higher returns, with projects such as expansion of our production capacity in executive aviation and service and support. Our adjusted net income was negative $13 million for the quarter, on a negative 1.4% adjusted margin. Historically, the first quarters of the year is the weakest because of the business seasonality. The positive reported net income is driven by the mark-to-market valuation of the Eve warrants, around $30 million. Next slide. Going to our liability management plan. In first quarter 2024, we reduced our gross debt net of Eve by $276 million only during the quarter, and by a more sizable $754 million versus a year ago, to a total of $2.6 billion.

In addition, our net debt declined by $384 million year-over-year, to a total of $1 billion in first quarter 2024. However, on a sequential basis, our net debt to EBITDA leverage ratio increased 0.4x to 1.8x, as shown in the top right corner. This variance is explained by the seasonality of the business. Our almost $2.4 billion liquidity position allowed us to cover our debt obligation beyond 2030, and leave us in a very comfortable position. With that, I conclude my presentation and hand it back to Francisco for his final remarks. Thank you very much.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Thank you, Antonio.

... The Q1 2024 was another step in the right direction, supported by both external factors, like some marginal improvements in our supply chain, and internal ones, like our production leveling initiatives. Speaking of production leveling, we recently hosted a conference with our main suppliers to strengthen our partnership and operational plans for 2024 and years ahead. We remain optimistic that supply chain disruption will continue to diminish and improve our ability to deliver more aircraft in the next few years. To finish, I would like to thank you all again for your interest and confidence in our company, and a very special shout-out to our friends in Dallas. We're very grateful for their partnership and trust. We continue to focus on operational and business efficiency in 2024, having as foundation of our culture, safety first and quality always. Let's now move to the Q&A session of the call.

Operator (participant)

We will now start the question and answer session. The first part of the Q&A session will be exclusively for equity research analysts and investors. The second part of the Q&A will be only for the press. We highlight again, this conference call is being conducted in English with simultaneous translation to Portuguese. Please let me say a short announcement for Portuguese speakers. We ask participants interested in asking questions to press star nine in the phone at any time, or press the Raise a Hand button on the platform. When your name is announced, press star six on the phone, or make sure your microphone is on, and start your question. We will also answer questions sent via the platform chat. If you need assistance, please use the Q&A button on the platform.

To give everyone a chance to participate, we request to ask just one question per call. Please hold while we collect questions. The first question comes from Cai von Rumohr with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Hello, Cai?

Gabriel Rezende (Analyst)

Hi, good morning. It's Gabriel Rezende from Itaú, actually. So, one question from our side here. You have just comment regarding the supply chain issues in the, in the defense business, and they are expecting, these issues to, to improve along the year. But I was just wondering whether the supply, issues that impacted the defense business, the specific components that impacted your, your performance in the division, have some overlap with the commercial division as well. So if you could provide, a little bit more detail on that, it would be great. Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Hey, Gabriel.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Hey, Gabriel.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Hi, Gabriel. Francisco speaking here. Yes, I mean, as I said, we see improvements in the supply chain from... We saw from 2022 to 2023, from 2023 to 2024, but still with challenges in specific components that some are limiting our production in the year. And also because of the delays. They are delivering the parts, but not on time to help us with the production, and then we have to make adjustments in our production schedule, which affects our productivity and in some case put in risk deliveries as well. But we made our plan for this year based on the plans that we discussed a lot with the suppliers.

So again, we are confident that we'll deliver the aircraft we announced in the guidance in this year.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Uh, uh-

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

This is valid for all the aircraft.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

And Francisco, just to complete Gabriel, for the defense especially, there is, I would say, not an overlap in regards to the specific parts for the C-390. There are different parts or, in some case, suppliers, and we just have, I would say, a concentration in Q1 with less receiving parts for defense, and also the mix of co- of contracts will cause less revenue and impact to our margins, especially in Q1, but there is nothing that concern us for this fiscal year.

Gabriel Rezende (Analyst)

That's perfect. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Miles Walton with Wolfe. Please go ahead.

Myles Walton (Managing Director)

Thanks. Good morning. Francisco, could you elaborate a little bit on the sales campaigns for the 200 aircraft you mentioned, both E1s and E2s? And I guess a couple of questions, if you could, give us some color on. One is the geographic dispersion of those campaigns, and the other is, in the case of the E2s, are these customers, looking to fulfill capacity needs that aren't being satisfied by Boeing and Airbus? Do you see that sort of opening emerging, or, are these more, expansion of customers that you would have otherwise anticipated, even if Boeing and Airbus had capacity? Thanks.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Thanks, Miles, for the questions. We have campaigns in all the regions, to be clear with you. I mean, all the regions, South America, North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. With the good opportunities, I can't disclose the details of ongoing campaigns, but as I said, it's more than 200 potential sales. And yeah, this is a combination of different factors. You know, I mean, the E2, as we have said, it's a perfect solution to complement the operations of bigger narrow bodies. So we see now today is the first flight of our customer, Scoot, in Singapore, that they are going to use the E2s to open new routes and to increase the frequency of flights. And we see that in many different regions as well.

So again, we are very... It's not easy, but we are very optimistic with the potential sales of E2s in 2024. What else, I mean, Miles, you asked it, please? Will you repeat?

Myles Walton (Managing Director)

Francisco, just more, are you seeing these campaigns build demand because of the lack of supply offered by Boeing and Airbus, or is that not a major factor in how these campaigns are playing out?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Okay. Again, as I said, it's a combination of factors. And, and for sure, I mean, the fact that we, we have, I mean, slots, production slots available, already from 2026 onwards. This is, can help the airlines to add, capacity sooner to the fleets.

Myles Walton (Managing Director)

Yeah. That's where I was going. It's surprising you still have that availability, given the absence of supply everywhere else. Just one quick follow-up, if I could. The arbitration timing with Boeing, is that still on track for this quarter? Thanks so much.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, thank you, Miles. Yes, we expect this to end, you know, in the first half of this year, so we should be close. But it's not in our hands, it's a decision of the tribunal in New York, but we expect this to end, you know, no later than the middle of this year.

Myles Walton (Managing Director)

Perfect. Thanks again.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

You are welcome.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Cai von Rumohr with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Cai, your microphone seems to be on mute. If you could please unmute on your end? The next question comes from Ron Epstein with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Cai von Rumohr (Managing Director)

Yeah, hey. Good morning, everyone.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Good morning, von.

Cai von Rumohr (Managing Director)

A couple quick questions. Can you talk a little bit more just about supply chain in general, and where you are seeing constraints still, both on commercial and in defense?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Well, Ron, as we said before, we see, I mean, improvements in leverage in our supply chain. But we still with some challenges in the with the specific products in terms of volume, and also, you know, the on-time delivery. We have a lot of suppliers improving, but still suppliers with the with difficulties to deliver the parts we need on time. And this, again, this bringing to us more difficulties in our production. As you know, we are working this Production Leveling initiative, that we want to better distribute the production and deliveries throughout the year. So we will still have difficulties in 2024, and we expect.

But again, in line with our plans to deliver the guidance, and we expect even more improvements in 2025, in years ahead, from our supply chain, for both sides, commercial and defense.

Cai von Rumohr (Managing Director)

Got it. Got it. And then maybe one more follow-on, if I can. Just, can you guys speak broadly to how you're thinking about product development and new products?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Sure. Well, I mean, we, Ron, we fully understand all the excitement caused by recent media speculations. I mean, it, in the end, it highlights, you know, the high level of market confidence in our company, right? Because of the achievements driven by engineering excellence, you know, our enterprise efficiency and our customer-centric philosophy. Of course, we are always looking at future options in all our business. But, however, as I said before, we are now in our harvest season, so we are focusing on selling and on delivering the current existing portfolio of products that is very modern and competitive.

So we don't have concrete plans to develop or launch a narrow body or other aircraft in the next few years.

Cai von Rumohr (Managing Director)

Great. Perfect. Thank you so much.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, you are very welcome, Ron.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Victor Mizusaki with Bradesco BBI. Please go ahead.

Victor Mizusaki (Senior Equity Analyst)

Hi. I have two questions here. The first one, apparently, some guys from Mahindra were visiting Embraer in Brazil, so I don't know if you can give us some update on the negotiations. And second, when we take a look on the press release, there's a comment about provisions for bad debt in service and support. So maybe you can comment a little bit if it's a kind of a specific situation, or there's something more to come in the second quarter. Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

All right, Victor, I'll start with the question one, and then Antonio will help us with the question two. Yes, we did have a very exciting visit last week to our facilities in Brazil of the Mahindra CEO and three other members of his team, where we had opportunity to better know each other and talk about the next steps on this MTA process in India to sell, you know, from 40 to up to 80 C-390s to the Indian Air Force. So we believe we have a good partnership with them, and we do our best to convince the customer that our products is the best one for the Indian Air Force. Antonio, you can help us with the second?

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Yeah. Good morning, Victor. So, very simple here, we just built up $3 million in Q1 for the bad debt provisions. Just, Q1 was a little, a bit higher concentration of overdue payments, and it's not one specific customer, it's a bunch of customer. We just applied the accounting methodology. I do not see it's being a trend for the future, and probably half of it is going to be revert next quarter already, Victor. Not concerns right now.

Victor Mizusaki (Senior Equity Analyst)

Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Marcelo Motta with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Marcelo Motta (Research Analyst)

Hi, everyone. Thanks for getting the question. It's regarding the defense. I mean, do you guys have any updates regarding, you know, the conversion of the orders from Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic? I mean, you guys also mentioned on the deliveries, and backlog report from the first quarter, you know, that there are ongoing orders from India, Asia Pacific, that are not incorporated to backlog yet. Could you please give us more color on, on, maybe the size, potential size of these orders and, you know, or maybe expectations for defense backlog, you know, for the, the coming quarters or year end? Thank you very much.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, hi, Marcelo. Thanks for the question. Yes, we do have high expectations to sign important contracts in defense during this year. The ones you know already that we have been selected in the past two years, we expect to sign it during this year. And then parallel, we are working in the other new campaigns, either for the A-29, the Super Tucanos, and the C-390s. We also expect 2024 to be a good year in terms of sales, not only in commercial, but in defense as well. And you know, taking the opportunity in the Executive Aviation, we keep a very good momentum in sales as well. So again, this year, we are very optimistic in terms of sales in all of our businesses.

Marcelo Motta (Research Analyst)

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Steven Trent. Please go ahead. Mr. Trent, your microphone seems to be muted.

Steven Trent (Managing Director)

Hello, I'm sorry. Can you hear me?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Yes. Yes, we can, Steve.

Steven Trent (Managing Director)

Hi. Good morning, everybody. I'm sorry about that. And thank you for taking my question. I also had a sort of a follow-up on the defense side. I know that, excuse me, Brazil's Air Force and Sweden have a solid relationship with the Gripen fighter, and other cooperation. And I was wondering if you might just give us some high level color about, you know, how Embraer might be working with Gripen, and what opportunities you could see from the new technology. Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Well, thank you, Stephen, for the questions. Well, we do have a partnership with Saab, you know, to help them to sell Gripen, not only in Brazil, but outside Brazil, and they to help us to sell the C-390. So we have been working together, and I mean, Sweden is one of our potential markets that we have been working on. So but we don't have any other information than that. Regarding sales of Gripen, this is better you ask Saab directly.

Steven Trent (Managing Director)

Great, appreciate that. Just a quick follow-up, you know, any high-level color how you guys are feeling about your supply of engineers in terms of hiring and retaining those people? Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, thank you again, Stephen. Again, we have been working very hard on those topics, that is, you know, the talent retention is one of the main focus of Embraer, not only engineering, but in the entire company. And again, we have a lot of new programs for engineers to working on in the future. We have improving our communication process. We have doing a lot of things, you know, to help us to retain our talents within the company. I don't know, Andreza, our VP HR, would like to add some other information on that, because you have been personally involved in this topic.

Andreza Alberto (VP of Human Resources)

Hello, everybody. Good morning. Thanks, Francisco. So, as you said, we're working very hard on that. We have a lot of initiatives, especially internally, by means of culture, the future of work, things that make our engineers, and not only engineer, all our employees, consider to keep in Embraer. And we also have been granted as a great place to work, and this also helps to retain, our employees. Thanks for the question, Steve.

Steven Trent (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Lucas Barbosa with Santander. Please go ahead.

Lucas Barbosa (Executive Director)

Good morning, Francisco, Antonio, Gui, and thanks for taking my questions, and congratulations for the results. So my question is looking a little bit longer term at the commercial aviation division. Embraer has deliveries to be done with better pricing conditions in the future, a higher mix of E2s, given the AA, American Airlines order, and a cost structure that is leaner than in the several past years. So my question is: with all of those positive drivers, where can commercial aviation margins stabilize at in the future? Thank you very much.

Gui Paiva (Head of Investor Relations)

Hi, Lucas. Good morning, and thanks for the question. This is Gui Paiva. So look, the points you mentioned are all correct. We don't provide official guidance for individual divisions of the company, but if you look in the past, commercial aviation was able to sustain margins in the double digit territory in the mid-teens. Also, that is far away from where we are now, but we feel confident that in the next few years, we should see margins continue to improve towards that direction.

Lucas Barbosa (Executive Director)

Super clear. Thank you very much, and have a great day.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Ms. Liwag, your microphone seems to be on mute.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Oh, hey. Hello, can you hear me?

Operator (participant)

Yes.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Okay, good.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Yes, Christine.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Hey. Hey, good morning, Francisco, Antonio, and Gui. Sorry about that. Maybe Francisco, on competitive dynamics, Airbus continues to lose money on the A220, and, you know, they are aspirationally break even at 160 per year. But they're continuing to see pressure from labor costs in Canada, and as well as their supply chain. Can you talk about what this means for the pricing environment for the E2, and how has the pricing environment for the E2 changed over the past few years since COVID? Are you seeing any improvement?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Well, Christine, it's... thanks for the question. Good question, by the way. Well, when we have a free competition in the market, the result is pressure on the price, with which benefit the customers, right?

In case of Embraer, I mean, even with this tough competition, we have been profitable in our commercial aviation. In the past year, in the past years, the past two years, we have been profitable in the commercial aviation with our services, and we don't sell our aircraft below costs. So what we have done, we have tried to offer competitive prices to our customers to show the value of our products, that our product. We believe that we do have the most efficient aircraft in that category, and we continue to work on reduce our internal costs, you know, with Kaizen programs, with cost reduction initiatives involving many engineers in the organization. So again, we have prepared ourselves for this competition, but without selling products below our costs.

So again, we expect, again, this year, to be profitable in commercial aviation without service. If we had service, we even improve the profit of our commercial business.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Thanks, Francisco. And if I could tack another one, I mean, following up on Miles' question. There is a shortage of aircraft globally, and Boeing continues to struggle with production, and Airbus can't meet all the demand out there either. Now, the E2 is a very attractive aircraft. I actually flew it recently from Paris to Zurich. I mean, what prevents customers from committing to more firm orders? I mean, that said, right, you are sold out through the end of 2026, but, you know, what's preventing them from committing for the slots in 2027 and beyond?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Another good question. Christine, I think, you know, there was a wave of customers buying bigger aircraft. But now, I mean, I think we see more and more opportunities for this we call small narrow-body. I mean, our E2 can fly up to six hours, you know? And it's a very efficient, very quiet, and it's perfect for if the airliner wants to offer a higher frequency of flights to the passengers, also to explore routes, I mean, until the demand is big enough to fuel a big narrow-body. I think the E2 is a perfect solution, and we see more and more customer now.

I mean, we see the interest growing more and more in that segment of small narrow-body that will, for sure, benefit our E2s.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Great, thank you for the color.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Thanks, Christine.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. The next question comes from Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Hi. Good morning, everyone.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Morning, Noah.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Good morning.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

What, what unit growth are you planning for based on demand backlog, how full the skyline is, in the medium term in commercial?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Would you please repeat the questions? I have difficulty. I'm having difficulties to understand here.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Yeah, can you hear me okay?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Yes.

Antonio Carlos Garcia (CFO)

Yes.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Yeah, I'm wondering from the starting point of 2024, you know, given you have to, you know, set the, set the system, the production system in motion, pretty far in advance, you know, and delivery... Production deliveries are still pretty far below pre-pandemic in commercial. I'm wondering how you're, you know, triangulating all of the inputs you have to decide where you should take production over the next two or three years in commercial.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Okay, now I got your question. Thank you. Well, this year we are planning, in commercial aviation, deliveries between 72-80 aircraft. And as I said before, we are working in a lot of sales campaigns for the future. Next year, we expect to grow the production of commercial jets, which should be, you know, very close back to the three digits production, I mean, in the commercial jets. And we expect to keep that level of production with small growth in the years ahead. So again, we believe that, you know, next year in the 2025, 2026, we'll be back to the production levels pre-pandemic levels, which will bring our commercial aviation to a even better profitability performance. So again, we are-

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

... we are very optimistic with the production growth and deliveries of commercial aviation as well.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay, great. Appreciate that detail. And then, at executive, obviously, the deliveries are up a lot year-over-year in the quarter. Obviously, it's off a low base. But, have you had resolution of supply chain issues in executive such that the year can be more level-loaded as you go through the year, or is... You know, is there an implication that there's upside to the full-year range?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

No, we had some difficulties last year, and, I mean, external with suppliers, but internal as well, because we were ramping up a lot the production. But no, since then, we have approved a lot of investments in our plants to increase production capacity, either in Brazil or in the U.S. So with that, we expect, you know, we are planning our growth this year, and even more important, growth in 2025 and years ahead. Because of this, I mean, investments, we are implementing this year to help us to increase production from 2025 onwards in executive jets.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay, great. All right, thanks very much.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

You're welcome.

Operator (participant)

Thank you all very much. This concludes the question and answer session for equity research analysts and investors. Now, we will start the Q&A section dedicated to the press. First, we will answer questions in English, and then we will answer questions in Portuguese. We'll also answer questions sent via the platform chat. Please let me say a short announcement for Portuguese speakers.[Foreign language] We ask participants interested in asking questions to press the Raise A Hand button on the platform. When your name is announced, please make sure your microphone is on, and start your question. If you need assistance, please use the Q&A button on the platform. To give everyone a chance to participate, we request to ask just one question.

Please hold while we collect questions. Our first question is from the chat. It is from Richard Schuurman, a freelance aviation reporter. Hello, Francisco. Obviously, you were very happy with the large order from American for 90 E175s. But how do you rate the chances of Embraer to win E2 orders from US customers? They seem to favor larger aircraft.

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, thanks. Thanks for the questions. Yes, we are extremely happy with the order of American Airlines. You know, last March, that was a very important order for us, that shows that our E175 still have many opportunities, you know, especially in the U.S. market. The E2s, you know, more recently, we have seen the E2s flying over U.S. with Porter Airlines. Porter is flying, you know, to New York, to Florida, to California, with the E2s. And we... Yes, we are in conversation with potential customers in the U.S. I mean, showing the how good the aircraft is, and how the aircraft can help them to fill the gap between the regional jets and the big narrow bodies.

So again, we see opportunities, not only, you know, in the U.S., but in many other regions in the world for the E2s.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from the chat, from Richard Schuurman, the same questioner: Do you have updates on the initial agreement with Lanzhou for the conversion of E1 jets in China, as announced at the Paris Air Show?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

No, we don't have any update to share with you about that program at this point of time.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please, click on the Raise a Hand button on the platform. The next question comes from Gabriel Araujo. Please go ahead.

Gabriel Araujo (Reporter)

Hey, Francisco and Claudio. Good morning. I was wondering if you could update us on the sales campaigns in Asia. We know India has a big market, China as well. Embraer has been trying to tap into the Chinese market for commercial airplanes. How the campaigns in Asia are developing, especially now that you are flying the E2 in Singapore now?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Oh, Gabriel, thanks for the question. Yes, Asia is a region we see a big potential for the E2s. You know, last February, we inaugurated a full flight, the first full flight simulator of E2s in the region, in Singapore, and this will help us, you know, to pursue more opportunities, sale opportunities in the region. And we are working in sales campaigns in many different countries. Now, we have already more than 300 aircraft flying over the region. I mean, in China, in Japan, in Australia. And we are working all those countries, you know, to introduce the E2s as well. So good opportunities for us in Asia Pacific, indeed, for the E2s.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Juliana Rocha, a reporter from Reorg, and it comes also from the platform chat. Can you give details on the arbitration proceeding with Boeing? When do you expect it to be over?

Francisco Gomes Neto (President and CEO)

Well, I mean, this process is not under our control, but it is the process in the final phase, and we expect, you know, a decision still within this first half of 2024.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. This concludes the question and answer session in English for the press. This Q&A section is now being conducted in Portuguese. To switch to English, please press the interpretation button on the platform and then select English. [Foreign language]

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