Today, welcome to the Aircastle Limited First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Update Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to James Connelly, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications. Please go ahead, Mr. Connelly. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Aircastle Limited's first quarter 2026 financial update call. With me today are Mike Inglese, Chief Executive Officer, and Roy Chandran, Chief Financial Officer. Other members of the management team are also on the line, and they will be available during Q&A. We will begin the presentation shortly. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded, and a replay will be available through our website at www.aircastle.com. There, you can also find the press release and PowerPoint presentation that accompany this call. I would like to point out that statements today, which are not historical facts, may be deemed forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the estimates or expectations expressed in those statements. Certain facts that could cause actual results to differ materially from Aircastle Limited's expectations are detailed in our SEC filings, which can also be found on our website. I will direct you to Aircastle Limited's press release for the full forward-looking statement legend. With that, I will now turn the call over to Mike. Thanks, Jim. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that Aircastle delivered net income of $34 million and adjusted EBITDA of $208 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. During the quarter, we invested $117 million in new aircraft acquisitions, while lease rental revenues increased 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025. We also completed the sales of aircraft and other flight equipment, generating $114 million of proceeds and $11 million in gains. Consistent with our disciplined investment strategy, we expect to continue executing aircraft acquisitions and sales throughout 2026 and currently see a healthy pipeline of potential investment in sales opportunities. During the first quarter, we also raised over $1 billion in new financing, demonstrating our continued access to efficient capital and diversified funding sources, which position us well to pursue investment opportunities and support our future growth. At the end of the quarter, our fleet had a weighted average age of 9.2 years and a weighted average remaining lease term of 5.3 years. As of May 31, 2026, 95% of our fleet comprised of narrow-body aircraft. A new technology portion of our fleet remains at an all-time high of around 52%. Before Roy discusses our financial results and highlights in more detail, I'd like to share my thoughts on what we're seeing in the broader aviation market. Since we last spoke in April, the conflict in the Middle East remains unresolved. Fuel prices, which spiked in April, have retreated considerably. However, risks remain and crack spreads are still high. Although the overall supply of jet fuel appears to be less of a risk than it did three months ago, prices remain higher than last year and it's likely they'll remain elevated for the remainder of this year. As of now, jet fuel prices are approximately 30%-40% higher than they were at this point in 2025. IATA stated last month at their annual general meeting that airline profitability in 2026 may be approximately 50% lower than 2025 levels due to the conflict's effects on fuel costs and supply chains. Despite the increase in fuel costs, consumer demand for air travel is holding up. IATA's most recent report on demand, as measured in RPKs, showed a global decrease of 2.2% in May of 2026 compared to the prior year. However, excluding the Middle East region, RPKs were up slightly at 0.7%. Passengers continue to prioritize travel and generally appear to be willing to absorb higher ticket prices. Likewise, airlines are finding ways to manage higher input costs, while governments in certain markets have taken action to support the aviation sector, given its importance to the global economy. While there are certainly pockets of macroeconomic risk, the global economy looks reasonably stable. From 9/11 to the global financial crisis to COVID-19, the aviation industry has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to adapt to changing market conditions and navigate periods of significant disruption. Although the trading landscape for narrow-body passenger aircraft remains very competitive, Airbus and Boeing have improved their production output in recent months. Boeing increased its delivery volume in May, delivering 60 commercial aircraft to customers, a 33% increase over May of 2025. Airbus delivered 81 commercial aircraft in May, up from 67 deliveries in April, which is also a 59% increase over their May 2025 volume. While both manufacturers have challenging 2026 delivery targets, the recent improvement in deliveries is a positive development for overall aircraft trading activity. Our experienced trading team continues to provide a competitive advantage for Aircastle. We're continually expanding our network of transaction partners, and our team's deep industry expertise and long-standing relationships position us well in a highly competitive market. Last fiscal year, we sourced $1.7 billion in new acquisitions, and we're moving through fiscal 2026 with equal confidence. However, our approach remains disciplined, and we place a strong emphasis on risk-adjusted returns and investment profitability. In today's market, deploying $1.7 billion of capital requires evaluating a substantially larger universe of potential acquisition opportunities and selectively pursuing those that meet our investment criteria. Also, having ample liquidity remains another competitive advantage in today's market. In the first quarter, we sourced over $1 billion in new financings, which Roy will talk about in a minute. We're seizing liquidity opportunities in the aviation finance market that is maturing and recognizing the long-term prospect of aircraft lessors who've benefited from improved investment-grade ratings. Supporting our trading and financing advantages is our unique ownership structure. For over six years, our partnership with Marubeni Corporation and Mizuho Leasing has bolstered our credit ratings and opened unique commercial and financial opportunities for which we are grateful. Roy will now discuss the first quarter in more detail. Thanks, Mike. For the first quarter, we generated a net income of $34 million on total revenues of $236 million. Lease rental revenues of $195 million represented a 6% increase as compared to the first quarter of 2025. We purchased four aircraft in the first quarter, adding $117 million to the net book value of equipment. We also sold five aircraft and other flight equipment with an average age of 18 years. These sales resulted in net gains of $11 million on proceeds of $114 million. All in all, for the first quarter, our team executed 34 lease transactions, largely comprised of purchases, sales, lease amendments and extensions. Operating costs were flat compared to the first quarter of 2025. High interest from increased borrowings was offset by lower depreciation as a result of aircraft sales executed late in fiscal 2025. Turning now to financing. As Mike mentioned, we sourced over $1 billion in new financings in the first quarter. We issued $650 million in unsecured senior notes at 5%, an issuance which was four times oversubscribed. We closed a $375 million unsecured term loan with several new lenders. This facility has a term of five years and can be expanded up to $425 million within six months of closing. This is the second time we've sourced an unsecured term loan of this type, and we believe it demonstrates the strong support we receive from the broader banking community. Our access to capital markets has always been a competitive edge, granting us the ability to execute efficiently as we grow our portfolio of sought-after aircraft. 99% of our $8.4 billion fleet is now unencumbered, while 98% of our debt is unsecured. The weighted average interest rate on our debt at the end of the first quarter was 5.1%, essentially flat versus prior year. Adjusted net debt to equity at the end of the fourth quarter was 2.2 times. As of July 1st, we had total liquidity of $2.6 billion, comprised of $2 billion of undrawn facilities, unrestricted cash of $100 million, and $500 million in projected 12-month adjusted operating cash flows and contracted sales. We believe aircraft leasing will continue to be a vital component of the aviation market space, especially as airlines navigate macroeconomic challenges. We're seeing sustained demand for air travel and an aviation finance market eager to supply liquidity. We look forward to expanding our investments in fiscal 2026 with a disciplined approach. We're also confident because of our track record for raising efficient capital. Relationships mean everything in aircraft leasing, we are proud to meet the high expectations of our customers, trading partners, debt investors, and shareholders. With that, operator, we are happy to open the call up for questions. Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question, we'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. Again, it's star one to ask a question. We'll take our first question from Doug Runte with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open. Yes. Good morning. Since the operator didn't warn me to limit myself to two questions, maybe I'll have some fun with your permission. A couple of questions. First, a micro question. The Spirit Airlines flight fleet now seems to be safely in the hands of all of the lessors, including yours. I'm wondering, what is the outlook for the five aircraft that you have with Spirit? One of your competitors seems to be going down the path of tearing down relatively new neo aircraft. I'm wondering what you're thinking. When could we potentially see those five aircraft either scrapped or moved to new operators? Look, we're working our way through the five, just to remind people, it's one CEO. We've been looking at a few lease-on opportunities and evaluating that against part-out. We haven't concluded yet, but my guess is that's probably headed for the part-out market. As it relates to the fourneos, we have some engines out on green time leases, working with Pratt to finalize our engine shop visits on the others and those eventually. I think we expect managing across our own fleet of assets, that those assets will be back in service in the middle of 2027, I think is the current expectation. Middle of 2027. Thanks for that. A broader question on the market for middle-aged aircraft. A number of appraisers have put out reports recently suggesting that lease rates and values for, call it, middle-aged, previous technology narrow bodies have plateaued or even declined on a year-over-year basis. I'm wondering what you're seeing, given that you're in touch with the actual market rather than just estimating. Yeah, look, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. Given what's happened with Spirit and the number of aircraft that are coming out and looking for new homes, it's put a little pressure on that market. I think we would suggest that maybe they're down a little bit from a year ago. Maybe value is holding up a little better. It's kind of a short-term phenomenon, and it's kind of too early to tell where it's going from here. Great. Thanks for that. Clearly a volatile time in the Middle East, as you pointed out. Fuel remains somewhat high. IATA predicting profitability going down. I'm wondering what you're seeing now in real time in terms of conversations with airlines, requests for deferrals. Do you have any growing arrears? Do you have concerns that the phone is going to be ringing with requests for deferrals now with war breaking out again? What color can you share on that? Look, when it all started back in late February, March, you had a handful of people asking for things. Honestly, the general response was no. We continue to monitor the situation. Two weeks ago, everybody was feeling great about the world. As of yesterday and overnight, everybody's got a different sort of cautious view and tone. We'll continue to look at what's happening, work with selective customers if necessary, as we've always done, and do our best to preserve the value of our assets and make sure they're at homes where we expect to get the returns we did when we invested in those assets. Great. Maybe one last one, since I think Mark may be on vacation. You brought up engine issues with Pratt and the Spirit aircraft. I'm wondering, in a broad theme, as you talk to airlines marketing, call it new technology, I guess current technology is a better term, narrow-body aircraft with LEAP and GTF engines. As you move beyond talking about stipulated rent to implied maintenance reserves and EOL payments, have engine costs on the, call it, current technology, aircraft, narrow-bodies, LEAP and GTF, are they starting to get to the point where there's a gag reflex where airlines may be attracted by stipulated rent, but when the conversation turns to maintenance reserves or EOLs running into the 8 digits, that a CFM56 doesn't seem so bad? Yeah, look, it's been an issue that's been around for a while. The mix between what's the rent and what's the math on maintenance costs and how those will get factored over the lease is not a new phenomenon. Yes, everybody has a little bit of altitude sickness around what the cost of maintaining engines. It's a trend, and everyone is working to look after their own interests and make sure there's a way for people to pay what they need to pay. Things can't go to the sky forever, but clearly they're a lot more expensive than they were. Pick your historical reference point. Great. Thanks for that, thanks for taking the extra couple of questions. Thanks, Doug. As a reminder, it's star one to ask a question. It appears there are no additional questions at this time. I'll turn the conference back to James Connelly for any additional remarks. I want to thank everyone for joining us. Please reach out if you have any questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating. I say please disconnect your lines.
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