Volaris - Q3 2023
October 25, 2023
Transcript
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
through our loyalty-based programs. Our affinity program with OXXO, the largest retailer in Mexico, is still in its early stages, and we envision it evolving into the largest platform in Mexico, with Volaris as one of its cornerstones. Looking into the fourth quarter, we see solid bookings across our network as we approach the holiday season, with demand trends largely resembling the ones we saw in the third quarter. Regarding our network, Volaris saw two critical developments in the third quarter, with Mexico's recovery of Category One status and Pratt & Whitney's GTF engine inspection announcement. We were pleased to announce the recovery of Category One status on September fourteenth, a significant milestone achieved over two and a half years after the initial downgrade. In the past month, we've diligently pursued regulatory authorizations to increase our flight frequencies between Mexico and the U.S.
Additionally, our codeshare partnership with Frontier is set to resume in December. Although the GTF engine preventative accelerated inspections have affected our ability to reallocate aircraft for U.S.-bound routes more than anticipated, we are on track to introduce four aircraft lines onto Mexico to U.S. routes by December, representing a 19% increase in capacity compared to last year's levels. Our management team is also working to optimize our network for the parked aircraft expected in 2024, by identifying and reducing capacity along ramp-up and underperforming routes. Looking to the next year, we will focus on prioritizing our most profitable routes. While doing so, we will maintain a prudent approach to protecting Volaris' long-term growth prospects. Our commitment involves preserving our leadership in our domestic core markets while leveraging the Category One upgrade for routes to the U.S. Simultaneously, we plan to scale back certain trunk routes.
Specifically, we will be reducing capacity on ramp-up routes and at Mexico City International Airport in response to the aircraft movements reduction taking effect on January eighth. I will now turn the call over to Jaime Pous to discuss the financial performance for the quarter.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
Thank you, Holger. For the third quarter of 2023, Volaris demonstrated financial performance that somewhat tracked behind our expectations. Total operating revenues came in at $848 million, a 10% increase compared to 2022, driven by sound demand across our network and ancillary revenue per passenger, which increased to $49 from $39 the previous year. However, this result was partially restrained by the impact of the preventive accelerated inspections of the GTF engines during September. CASM was $0.0837, up 2% year-over-year. EBITDA for the quarter totaled $207 million, an 18% increase over the prior year's quarter. EBITDA margin was 24.4%, or an improvement of 1.6 percentage points from the third quarter of last year, favored by lower jet fuel prices and a stronger peso.
Volaris posted an EBIT of $39 million, up 11% for an EBIT margin of 4.6%, flat versus 2022. Our CASM ex-fuel was $0.0491, an increase of 21%. The primary factor driving this increase was a strong appreciation of the Mexican peso compared to the prior year. As a reminder, a stronger peso has a net positive impact on our operating margins. Still, it is a headwind for unit costs, given the translation of peso-denominated costs into dollars in our consolidated P&L. The appreciation of the peso impacted our unit costs by $0.0034 in the quarter. Excluding this effect, our CASM ex-fuel only increased 12% versus the third quarter of 2022.
We managed costs as effectively as possible to achieve expectations that included cyclical pressures associated with maintenance and redeliveries that we anticipated on our Investor Day last December. Moving to jet fuel, the average economic fuel cost during the quarter was $3.17 per gallon. While this equates to a 20% decrease year-over-year, given the lapping of last year's historic surge in fuel prices, jet fuel costs have risen rapidly since the second quarter of this year, up 17% sequentially. Given the recent geopolitical global circumstances, we expect to continue to experience volatility in jet fuel prices. During the quarter, we booked delivery cost accruals of $42.4 million and no sale and leaseback gains. Total CASM came to $0.0798 for the third quarter, a 1.7% increase compared to the third quarter of 2022.
For the third quarter, the net loss was $39 million. The cash flow provided by operating and financing activities in the third quarter was $145 million and $87 million, respectively. Cash outflows used in investing were $138 million. CapEx, net of pre-delivery payments, totaled $63 million in the quarter. Our strategy to maintain operational reliability drove investment of $11 million in acquiring spare engines. The capitalized major maintenance events expenses were $37 million for the quarter. Year-to-date, CapEx net of pre-delivery payments stands at $186 million. For the full year, we continue to expect CapEx of $300 million, net of pre-delivery payments. Volaris finished the quarter with a liquidity position of $764 million, representing 24% of the last full month's operating revenue.
Given the effect of the expected parked aircraft on our capacity and network, it is particularly important to maintain a healthy cash position. In this sense, we secure financing for 8 spare engines through finance leases for $109 million. Notably, part of these leases are structured under Japanese operating leases with call options or JOLCOs, representing a milestone for Volaris, as this marks our first entry into these finance structures. Additionally, in the third quarter, Volaris successfully issued Mexican trust notes worth MXN 1.5 billion, or $86 million. This marks our third offering under the program approved by the CNBV, and solidifies Volaris as a regular issuer in the Mexican debt capital markets. Overall, our balance sheet remains solid and flexible to comfortably meet our financial commitments for the foreseeable future.
At the end of the third quarter, our net debt to EBITDA ratio remained at 3.5 times. As of September 30th, our fleet comprised 125 aircraft, up from 113 aircraft a year ago. Seats per departure were 194 in the third quarter, and our fleet had an average age of 5.6 years. We are working diligently on our fleet plan with Airbus and maintaining our original aircraft delivery plan, which includes 24 aircraft already financed for 2024 and 2025. Our mitigation plan encompasses adjusting certain operating costs in anticipation of the expected reduction in our fleet. However, we must emphasize that we will be cautious in scaling back our operations. While we are committed to cost control, we also focus on long-term growth and are mindful of the required resources to support that future.
Additionally, we aim to retain the flexibility to increase operations after the engine inspections are completed quickly. Although our unit costs will likely experience upward pressure due to capacity reductions, our commitment to maintaining world-class cost control remains unwavering. The company's net cost impact for the third quarter, which includes grounding compensation, is forecasted to remain under control. Consequently, for the entire year, we expect the CASM ex-fuel to stay consistent with our original guidance of around $0.04. CASM, both including and excluding fuel expenses, will be netted for the compensation received from Pratt & Whitney. However, it is important to note that each line in the P&L statement will continue to reflect the actual cost of the entire fleet, including the non-productive fleet. We updated our full year 2023 guidance two weeks ago to reflect parked aircraft, cancellations, and higher fuel prices.
As a reminder, our estimates for the full year are as follows: ASM growth of 10%, total operating revenues of $3.2 billion, CASM ex-fuel of $0.048, EBITDA margin of 26%, CapEx of $300 million net of finance pre-delivery payments, net debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.5x. This outlook assumes an average for the full year foreign exchange rate of approximately MXN 17.75 per dollar, and an average economic fuel price of approximately $2.80 per gallon. Now, I will turn the call over to Enrique for closing remarks.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Thank you very much, Jaime. Volaris has managed numerous challenges and regulatory static in recent years, including slot reductions in Mexico City International Airport, a major COVID crisis, a downgrade in the category of the Mexican Aviation Authority, soaring fuel costs well above historical levels, shifts in aviation regulations, including discussions on cabotage, the transition to new airports, significant delays from OEMs, the complex implementation of new engine technologies, et cetera. The Volaris team has consistently responded with agility throughout these challenges, adapting the company effectively and achieving considerable success. At certain moments in the aviation industry, absolute clarity is impossible to assess. We firmly believe that the current situation is no exception. We're again prepared and motivated to manage the airline for a successful 2024. We will focus on managing our fleet to the best of our ability, putting safety first while focusing on profitability.
Our operation may be smaller in the short term, but with continuing strong demand against reduced capacity in our markets and appropriate support from Pratt & Whitney, the next year has the potential to deliver an improved performance versus 2023. Thank you very much for listening. Operator, please open the line for questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please press star one one on your touchtone telephone at this or any time. If at any point your question is answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star one one again. Questions will be taken in the order they are received. We ask that when you post your question, that you pick up your handset to provide optimum sound quality. Those following the presentation via the webcast may post their questions on the platform. The management team will answer them during this call, or the Volaris investor relations team will follow up after the conference call is finished. To send your questions via the webcast platform, click on the Ask a Question button and type your inquiry. Please hold while we poll for questions.
Our first question comes from Duane Pfennigwerth with Evercore ISI. You may proceed.
Duane Pfennigwerth (Senior Managing Director)
Hey, good morning. I just wanted to ask you maybe a RASM distribution or profitability distribution question. If you were to rank your routes kind of highest RASM to lowest RASM, how much lower is the bottom 10%-15%? In other words, you know, you haven't given 2024 guidance here, but if you were to cut the bottom 10%-15% of your capacity into next year, how much could your RASM improve? And certainly appreciate there are a lot of moving parts here with Category One, et cetera, and maybe some shift to international. But maybe you could give us a sense for some sensitivity there.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
We had a part of those, of those, routes that were not performing yet on a profitable basis, okay? So that 10, 15% that you have in the lower tail include a good amount of routes that were in development. If you remember, we launched more than 40 routes this year that were maturing, okay? And they were part of that, okay? So what we're doing is, yes, you are absolutely right on making the question. We are cutting down that capacity. We're cutting down the non-profitable capacity and the less profitable routes, and that accounts, that probably improves our RASM somehow between 5%-8%.
Duane Pfennigwerth (Senior Managing Director)
Okay, appreciate it.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
There are a lot of new moving parts. It's also fair to assume that there will be some capacity reductions in the Mexican domestic market, since two out of the three airlines, which account for 70% of the market, are going to be affected by the Pratt & Whitney engine issue. So lots of moving parts in the domestic market, and we have Cat One back in the international market, so we will see where things turn out once we have a full plan.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
I think it is important to say, Duane, that our forecast for the year-end already includes the downtime of the aircraft that we have forecasted for this quarter.
Duane Pfennigwerth (Senior Managing Director)
Okay, thanks for those thoughts. And then just on compensation, I assume at a minimum, aircraft ownership and the cost to make these repairs are on the table. But what about other costs? You know, staff costs, presumably you hired to fly this capacity. You know, what other forms of compensation are on the table?
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
Duane, at the moment, we cannot comment on that. It's something that we are under negotiations with Pratt, but Pratt has behaved rational and supportive of the company, but we will share whenever we have the possibility of doing so.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
I just want to remind you, Duane, that we do have a flexible labor contract based on a per hour basis.
Duane Pfennigwerth (Senior Managing Director)
Okay. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Stephen Trent with Citi. He may proceed.
Stephen Trent (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Good morning, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. I was just curious. I know with Category One restored now, you should have more U.S.-bound flights. You know, any high-level color with respect to what proportion of your capacity is gonna be Mexico to U.S., you know, in 2024 versus what it looked like pre-pandemic, you know, with the view that maybe you're now still doing more Central America to U.S. nonstop, for example? You know, just sort of trying to sort out how you're going to be thinking about your northbound capacity. Thank you.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
So Stephen, this is Holger. I can give you some color on the fourth quarter. We are planning to increase capacity in the international markets by around 19% for the fourth quarter. And that is driven by some additional U.S. Mexico capacity. And then Enrique mentioned we are considering four aircraft lines that were previously operated in the domestic market to be shifted into the international market in the fourth quarter. And also to remind you that we added significant capacity to Central America, which includes Central America to the U.S. flying, and that's up in the high double digits year-over-year. So we are focusing on growing our international capacity in the fourth quarter.
For 2024, we are still sorting through the available capacity, and we will get back to you with some additional guidance on the split between domestic and international, as we move through the fourth quarter.
Stephen Trent (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
I appreciate that, Holger. Thank you. Just a very quick follow-up, if I may. You know, I know the Mexican government has, I guess, resuscitated Mexicana. You know, when you look at their flight schedules, you know, to what extent do you guys have modest overlap or maybe no overlap at all? You know, just trying to sort that out. Thank you.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
We have reviewed initial press notes of what their planned capacity is. All of the capacities that this new airline will launch is from the new airport, AIFA , the new Mexico City airport. There is about half of the routes are currently overlapping with us from AIFA, and half are completely new routes from AIFA. Very limited overlap so far for us with the new airline.
Stephen Trent (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Okay. Thanks again, Holger. I'll leave it there. I appreciate that, guys.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
It would be in the 1%-2% ASM overlap right now.
Stephen Trent (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)
Perfect. No, that's very helpful. Thanks very much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Helane Becker with TD Cowen. You may proceed.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Thanks very much. Hi, everybody, and thank you for the time today. Earlier this week or late last week, it was reported by the three publicly traded airports in Mexico that they had reached an agreement on charges with the government, and the government put out a note that said airfare should come down 9%-12% as a result of that agreement on charges. And I'm wondering if that... how that will affect you guys, if at all?
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
So, Helane, we've been tracking the process with the airport groups very closely. And all I can say firm today, that it's firm today, is we received a letter that was sent by GAP to the DGAC or to the authority, where they are proposing a reduction of 10% of TUAs, effective that same day. Okay? So that may impact the total price of the cost of the tickets to the consumers.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Right. That's what I'm wondering, if, if that will affect you. So then the one-word answer is, yes, it will.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Yes, it will, on a positive basis.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Because your costs are going down, but won't you have to reduce your ticket prices to the customer?
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
We're not affected by any of their changes.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Okay.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Our pricing structure is not being affected by any of their changes.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
The TUAs charge is a pass-through charge that we put into the total ticket price. So the total ticket price for the consumer that they pay on our website is going to be reduced, but not our actual fare or ancillary revenue.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Got it. Okay. Got it. I understand what you're saying now. Thank you. And then just on v.club members, I heard you say that, I think, membership doubled in the past one year, which is very impressive. Is there a limit as to how many members you're willing to accept into the program, or is it kind of an unlimited number?
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
No, Helane, we don't have a limit on how many v.club members we would like to welcome to our program. Ideally, the more members we have, the more captive audience we have and the more repeat business we have. So we highly welcome this development.
Helane Becker (Managing Director and Senior Advisor)
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Michael Linenberg with Deutsche Bank. You may proceed.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Yeah. Hey, good morning, everyone. I guess, out of your fleet of 125 airplanes, how many Airbuses are now grounded? And as you think out over the next 12 months or so, do you have sort of a rough sense of how many airplanes will be on the ground at any point in time?
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Yes, as I said, Michael, we have 52 neo-engined aircraft, so which is kind of half of the fleet, okay? Given that this is now a revision every certain number of cycles, 2,800 cycles for the A321s and 3,800 cycles for the A320s, most of those aircraft will go through the revision, through the preventive revision.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Okay. And how many are on the ground? How many do you... Or maybe, maybe none are grounded, maybe-
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Today, we have 16 aircraft grounded.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Okay. And does that number, Enrique, as we move to the next 12 months or so, does that number get better, or is that kind of a rough-
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
It depends on every week, okay? That's why it's so important. I mean, I think, Michael, what we're trying to do is we're thinking on our customers, and we have to publish an itinerary and a schedule, which is solid, and it's reliable, and it's not changing for the customers. That's why on the other side, I mean, for us, it's really important to speak in terms of ASMs, because we'll have aircrafts going in, aircrafts going out, engines going up-
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Yeah.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
engines going out, and it's going to be really variable. So I don't think it's relevant—it's important to speak about aircraft or engines for you guys who make your projections based on ASMs and for the customers who need a reliable schedule. So I think the most important way of managing this is managing through a projection based on ASMs.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Okay. Okay. I, I agree. I just... I'm trying to get the sense on, you know, knowing that we cover the lessors, I'm trying to get a sense of how many airplanes you may have to extend the leases on, and that's actually my second question, which is: In your conversations with the lessors, what sort of response are you getting on the cost of the new lease? Because, you know, what we're hearing is that with narrow bodies scarce, and everybody asking for extensions at the same time, and interest costs very high, that in some cases, the response they're getting from the lessors is a much higher monthly rental price under the extension than what they were currently benefiting from, despite the fact that the airplane is a lot older, right? It should be a lower lease rate, not a higher lease rate.
So that would be my second question, is just on your early, you know, conversations with the lessors, you know, does it appear that these new extensions would be a bit more expensive than what you currently have? Thanks for taking my question.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
You're welcome, Michael. This is Jaime.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Hi, Jaime.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
In types of numbers, we will be extending 18 aircraft that were supposed to be redelivered in 2024 and 2025.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Okay.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
The new rent environment has changed due to the situation.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Mm-hmm.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
Still, rents will be lower than the new fleet that we have.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Mm-hmm.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
Extensions will range between 24-48 months.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Mm-hmm.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
Normally, lessors prefer that the airline that is already operating the plane extends the plane, rather to give it to someone new-
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Yeah.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
because they don't need to go through any expenses in seeking the airplane for the other airline. But you are right, the pricing environment has increased if you compare from early this year on to today.
Michael Linenberg (Managing Director and Senior Airline Analyst)
Great. That's super helpful. Thanks. Thanks, everyone.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Rogério Araújo with Bank of America. You may proceed.
Rogério Araújo (Director)
Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for the opportunity. I have a couple here. The first one on the new margin guidance provided, it simply implies a very strong EBITDA margin for fourth Q, despite the higher oil price, around 33%-34%. Is that correct? And what is driving that? I can do the other following that answer. Thank you.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
So I'll take the first part of that question. Thank you. This is Holger. So in the fourth quarter, we are expecting a high single-digit year-on-year growth in total revenue per available seat mile. And we believe that those improvements will mostly come through better ancillary revenues, following the same trend of improvements that we have observed year to date. And remind everyone that we are entering in the one of the best quarters of the year, with the high season of December and November in there. We're also leveraging the return of Category One in December. And we will grow in the U.S.-Mexico market, as we already explained.
Remind everybody that the guidance that we've given already includes the affected aircraft through the Pratt & Whitney engine situation. So that capacity guidance we talked about already includes that number.
Rogério Araújo (Director)
Okay. That, that's very clear. Thank you. My second question is regarding the financial compensation. You guys mentioned $6 billion-$7 billion in financial compensation, estimated 80% coming through compensating the airlines, and 3,000 engines. Can we do like a... If you do an average compensation by engine, do we reach something that is close to our best guess? And is it gonna be a similar compensation for each engine of all this, these 3,000, or it's gonna be very different across airlines?
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
I think that's a question you need to do to RTX. I cannot answer for RTX on how they negotiate their compensation packages. I can tell you what we're trying to negotiate and how we are trying to negotiate it. The problem I have is I have a limitation from the contractual perspective to mention the number. But what we are planning to do, and I think this is really important, is effective before the end of this quarter, we will release a forecast, both of ASMs that will be flying in the following quarter, and second, a total amount that will be accounted as part of the quarter compensation.
Rogério Araújo (Director)
Okay. Very clear. Thank you very much. Have a great one.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Guilherme Mendes with JPMorgan. You may proceed.
Guilherme Mendes (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Hello, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. I have two follow-ups, actually. The first one's on international capacity. So, following Cat One and removing and have you been facing some kind of competition from U.S. carriers by adding more capacity to the U.S.? Because my understanding is that over the Cat Two situation, most of the most profitable routes were compensated by U.S. carriers. And the second one, also related to capacity, if that by removing the capacity from Mexico City Airport, if you are adding some additional flights from AIFA, or you're just removing your overall exposure to Mexico City? Thank you.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
So in terms of U.S. capacity, I can tell you that our airline focuses on a different market segment than many of the U.S. carriers. We are focused on our VFR core markets, flying from the center of Mexico to some of the Mexican heritage population markets in the U.S. that have no direct service, while many of the U.S. carriers focus on leisure destinations in Mexico. I would also like to remind everyone that we are seeing an increasing CASM gap between us here in Mexico and our U.S. peers. So we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of additional demand in the U.S.-Mexico transporter market. Regarding the capacity in the Mexico City metro area, we are currently operating in three airports.
We are reducing capacity in Mexico City International Airport, and as Enrique mentioned, we're using that capacity to fortify our U.S.-Mexico capacity in the short term. Away from Mexico City, in other markets from Mexico to the U.S. Maybe I can just add that.
Guilherme Mendes (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Super clear. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Bruno Amorim with Goldman Sachs. You may proceed.
Bruno Amorim (VP of Equity Research)
Thank you. So I have two questions. First one, it's a follow-up on the guidance for margin. As previously discussed, the guidance implies on a significant improvement in the fourth quarter. You know, is this guidance including any potential benefit from, you know, compensations to be received from RTX, or is it net of those effects? I'm just trying to understand the margin delivery in fourth quarter could be a good proxy for the future. And the second question is a clarification on the engines that have already been grounded. You know, what type of feedback are you receiving from RTX in terms of the duration of this process? You know, how many days will they need to go through the whole inspection process? Thank you.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
Hi, this is Jaime. I will answer the first question. Yes, it has the benefit of the compensation of Pratt & Whitney, the guidance for the 4Q. You will see in two lines, as mentioned in the call, on the other operating income line and on the maintenance expenses line.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
I think on the second part of your question, this is Enrique Beltranena. RTX stated yesterday in their, in their call that they are still thinking about 250-300 days of duration for the total turnaround times for the engines.
Bruno Amorim (VP of Equity Research)
Okay, thank you. I'm sorry.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Pablo Monsivais with Barclays. You may proceed.
Pablo Monsivais (Equity Research Analyst)
Hi. Guys, thanks for taking my question. I have a quick one on the... On basically, I would like to have more color on your ability to source new aircraft in the first half of next year. How do you think that is happening and the likelihood of you having some extra aircraft in the lease market? Thank you.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
Thank you, Pablo. First, we have our own purchase order with Airbus. We will be receiving 11 aircraft in 2024 and 13 aircraft in 2025. So we already have that contractual expectation to receive those aircraft. In addition, we already secured extensions for the 2024 previous lease aircraft to be redelivered, and we are looking at other aircraft. What we want to do, Pablo, is we don't want to fix a short-term problem and create a long-term problem. So we are really doing analysis aircraft by aircraft on a P&L basis before we decide to bring a few aircraft to try to mitigate the GTF impact. But we have been really thinking about long-term success and short-term profitability.
Pablo Monsivais (Equity Research Analyst)
Perfect. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Alberto Valerio with UBS. He may proceed.
Alberto Valerio (Executive Director)
Hi, thank you for taking my questions. So I would like to follow up on the Mexicana de Aviación. We see ticket fares very low at this moment, for some routes, even 50% discount. I know that for a while, the overlap is small. They start to receive very few aircraft at this moment. But do you see any potential liability on privilege for the airline, and then you can call a legal dispute? Or do you think that they'll be restricted to that 10 aircraft that they had initial planned for the city and keep that at a small portion of the market? Thank you.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
I mean, again, we need to say that Volaris has advocated for fair competition with equal conditions for all market participants. We have demanded equal treatment from the authorities and are closely monitoring the implementation process for any new entrants. The good news is this last week, the FAA authority or the aviation authority head made it really clear that they were not going to allow the new airline to have better benefits, and that's the way they have stated it. It is important also to say that they started selling, but then they interrupted, and their tickets are now available until they. I then remind you guys, I mean, with equal, with, with fair competition, Volaris has always been a very good carrier, competing with any other competitor since we were founded.
Alberto Valerio (Executive Director)
No doubt. Very clear. Just one more question, my side, about Tulum Airport. Is any news on the Tulum? They, they already start selling tickets on that airport. Will Volaris make any deal with this airport? Thank you.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
As I stated it in the last time, the last call, yet we are absolutely interested in Tulum, and we may fly from Tulum. It's in its final phase of being constructed and finished, and once we have clarity on safety and the way we can fly there, then we will start acting our structure and announcing capacity. But I think for us, it's really important to have absolute clarity on how we fly and how we approach, how we take off, and the way we operate, since safety is always the first thing for us.
Alberto Valerio (Executive Director)
Okay. Thank you very much, everyone.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
I think it is important for you guys also to understand, we are now the only public company in this country, okay? The only airline public company. As a result of that, we cannot publish capacity that it is not approved by the authority or that it is not legally, or legally with authority to fly the routes.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Neil Glynn with AIR Control Tower. You may proceed.
Neil Glynn (Founder and Managing Director)
Oh, good morning, everybody. If I could ask two questions. The first one is following up on some of the U.S. commentary. I'm conscious there's a lot of capacity from each of the three Mexican airlines, hitting the market over the next few months, and I'm interested in your take as to the ability of that capacity to hit the ground running, so to speak, or how do you think about the lag to maturity of some of those routes? Then the second question, you've mentioned your first foray into the JOLCO market. Your sister company, Wizz Air in Europe, has been using that market for quite some time. So I'm interested in terms of why now for that, for the JOLCO market, and should JOLCOs play a bigger role for you in the future? Thank you.
Jaime Pous (CFO)
I will start first with the second question, Neil. This is Jaime. Basically, in the past, we hadn't explored the JOLCO Japanese market. We did a first trip during the month of May and visit the banks and some of the players. And this is the first approach. We are dealing with engines, which is a smaller risk for an exposure for the LatAm area. Some of the Japanese investors were concerned about the LatAm market, in particular, due to Chapter 11 and bridges under the prior contracts from some Latin American airlines. So I think it's good news that we were able, in such a short term after the visit, to being able to execute a transaction on engines.
We already have the same leaseback for most of the planes of 2024 and 2025. We do have some sales at the end of 2025, that it would be interesting if we can accommodate a JOLCO transaction. It is probably the cheapest money due to the tax benefit the Japanese would they have accelerated the position. So it is good. It was helpful for us that they knew Wizz, some of the banks and investors. But we are really optimistic on the view that the Japanese investor had on the story of Volaris and where we are heading.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
On the first question, the line was cut, so we couldn't hear it. If you can repeat it, please?
Neil Glynn (Founder and Managing Director)
Sure. It was really a question about how long it takes some of this new capacity into the U.S. to perform as your existing U.S. network, given that clearly there's disparate routes being introduced, but there are three Mexican airlines introducing a lot of new capacity at around the same time.
Holger Blankenstein (EVP of Airline Commercial and Operations)
So regarding the U.S. capacity, I can tell you that international new routes typically have a longer ramp-up time than domestic routes. However, we are not introducing any new routes. We are adding capacity to existing markets that we already operate and that require more capacity because we are seeing extremely high loads in those markets. So the ramp-up time of those increased frequencies is significantly lower, and we are going to be focusing on our Mexican heritage core market, which is very different to the U.S. carriers, as I already mentioned.
Neil Glynn (Founder and Managing Director)
Many thanks.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Excuse me. This concludes today's question and answer session. I would like to invite Mr. Beltranena to proceed with his closing remarks. Please go ahead, sir.
Enrique Beltranena (CEO)
Thank you very much. So before I end the call, I want to specially thank our ambassadors, who have been working hard, again, to optimize our operations in light of these engine inspections and changing schedules and changing reservations and accommodating to the new environment. As always, I want to thank our board of directors, investors, bankers, lessors, and suppliers for their unwavering commitment and support. But let me tell you something, I remain really positive of the way we can manage this situation, and I look forward to addressing you all again in the next future. Thank you very much. Thank you, operator. Thank you, everybody.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. This concludes the Volaris conference call for today. Thank you very much for-