Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Valeris' first quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference call. All lines are currently in listen-only mode. After the company's remarks, we'll open the call for questions. Please note that today's event is being recorded and webcast live on Valeris' website. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Liliana Juarez, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead, Liliana. Liliana.

Welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining us today are our president and CEO, Enrique Beltranena, our airline executive vice president, Holger Blankenstein, and our CFO, Jaime Puls. They will be discussing the company's results, followed by a Q&A session. This call is for investors and analysts only. Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements on their applicable securities laws. These are subject to several factors that could cause the company's results to differ materially, as described in our filings with the U.S. SEC and Mexico's CNBV. These statements speak only of the date they are made, and Volaris undertakes no obligation to update or modify them. All figures are in US dollars and compared to the first quarter of 2025, unless otherwise noted. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Enrique.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. We entered 2026. with a clear set of priorities, discipline growth, continual enhancement of revenue quality through segmentation across pricing, ancillaries, and network, and active fleet management through peak GTF engine repairs, all while preserving our low-complexity, low-cost model. Against the backdrop of global geopolitical events and higher fuel prices, these priorities remain unchanged, but we are adapting our execution. We are responding with agility and discipline, aligning capacity with demand, focusing on profitable flying and preserving cash. On the commercial side, we are executing targeted fare and ancillary adjustments, carefully calibrated to demand conditions to maintain a balanced approach between pricing and volumes. We're actively accelerating pricing actions resulting in fair improvement of about 10% with several steps across our network, alongside with about 20% increases in selected ancillary pros. We'll continue to progressively optimize these actions as we assess demand elasticity across different markets during the quarter. We expect TRASM to increase by about 22% year-over-year in the second quarter. Importantly, demand remains resilient to these actions across the network and we are seeing a faster than historical ability to recapture fuel through pricing supported by a more disciplined industry environment. As pricing actions are reflected in an improvement in our revenue performance, and given Volari's booking curves, we expect to recapture, on average, approximately 20% to 30% of incremental fuel costs in the second quarter. From a capacity management perspective, we are prioritizing cash preservation by ensuring that our network covers variable costs. We are maintaining full flexibility to adjust capacity as conditions evolve, with actions primarily focused on the domestic market as international markets continue to demonstrate stronger pricing absorption. We are adjusting schedules on an ongoing basis in response to fuel conditions and demand. More specifically, We are managing schedules dynamically through a rolling 6-8 week planning horizon while maintaining a strong focus on customer experience and network integrity. At the same time, we are improving fuel efficiency through fleet mix in line with our plan to return GTF engines to service. We are seeing a higher proportion of NEO aircraft in operation, and we estimate that for every 10 aircraft shifted from CEOS to NEOs, we generate roughly $2 million in monthly fuel savings at current fuel price levels. For the full year 2026, we now expect ASM growth of approximately 4%, down from our original guidance of around 7%, reflecting the capacity adjustments made to date and our approach to cash preservation in the current environment. Importantly, this remains dynamic and we retain flexibility to adjust further as conditions evolve, with actions primarily concentrated in the domestic market while international markets continue to demonstrate stronger pricing absorption. Now, turning to our first quarter top-line results, they reflect strong execution. We deliver resilient performance, supported by disciplined capacity deployment, improving yields and mix, and cost control in line with our guidance. In the quarter, demand remained robust across our network, with continuous sequential improvement in the cross-border segment and stable trends in the domestic market. Combined with solid ancillary performance, this drove results that reinforced the strength of our model and the relevance of our offering, even in a more challenging environment marked by steeply higher fuel prices and increased global uncertainty beginning in late February. During the quarter, we focused on recovering volumes across our segments while improving revenue quality. As a result, we delivered TRASM of 8.62 cents, up 11% year-over-year. This performance was supported by a 10% increase in base fare and continued improvement in revenue mix annually. with ancillaries reaching 57% of total operating revenues, reinforcing our ability to drive sustained revenue performance while maintaining flexibility. At the same time, we kept CASM ex-fuel in line with plan at $0.604 and closed the quarter with an EBITDA margin of 22.9%. This result gained 2 percentage points below our first quarter guidance, driven by a more challenging fuel environment, with Gulf Coast jet fuel averaging 2.56 per gallon, compared to 2.20 assumed in our February guidance, an increase of around 16%. Our balance sheet remains strong. with a healthy cash position of $766 million, representing 24% of the last 12 months' revenues and only $8 million below the prior quarter. Net leverage stood at 3.2 times, providing flexibility to navigate the current environment while continuing to execute our priorities. Our experience over the past two and a half years navigating the GTF engine uncertainty has given us the capability to quickly flex capacity to align with demand and support profitability. Today our diversified network and stronger dollarized revenue profile with over 40% exposure to higher yielding trans-border markets support greater resilience. While we are focused on navigating the current environment, we are also positioning the business for medium-term value creation supported by a fleet strategy anchored on three principles. Discipline growth, prudent capital allocation, clear value creation. Starting with growth, we are confident we have the right model in the right markets to grow sustainably and profitably in line with demand, not ahead of it. Our capacity outlook remains intentionally disciplined, with growth primarily driven by improving fleet productivity rather than by adding incremental aircraft. As a result, our contractual fleet will decline from 155 aircraft in December 2025 to roughly 137 by the year end of 2027, while our productive revenue generating fleet increases to approximately 125 aircraft up from 112 at the end of 2025. This transition unlocks meaningful efficiency gains including around $50 million in annual lease savings and a reduction of roughly $360 million in lease liabilities by 2027, while at the same time increasing our revenue-generating capacity. On capital allocation, we are prioritizing investments that deliver long-term returns while maintaining flexibility around future fleet commitments. To that end, most 2027 and 2028 deliveries have been rescheduled and no incremental aircraft investment will be made until the GTF advantage engines enter into service. Ultimately, the most powerful value creation lever over the next several years is restoring fleet productivity, reducing aircraft ownership costs and improving our conversion from EBITDA to EBIT, translating directly into stronger free cash flow generation and return on investment capital. In short, we are executing with this discipline in the near term, while positioning the business for meaningful long-term value creation. We remain confident in our ability to navigate this environment and will continue to prioritize profitability over growth. While today's demand trends remain solid, our model is designed for flexibility that the current geopolitical environment requires. With that, I will turn the call over to Jorge to discuss our commercial and operational performance. Thank you, Enrique.

Our first quarter results reflected disciplined execution, especially as we continue to prioritize higher quality demand and deploy capacity into our strongest markets while reinforcing our network position in the current industry environment. For the first quarter, we grew ASMs by 2.3%, reflecting disciplined capacity deployment and a continued shift towards the higher-yielding transporter market. International performance was encouraging, with load factor reaching 80.1%, trending closer to historical levels, despite a temporary softness at the beginning of March related to security events in the state of Jalisco. These results exceeded expectations and highlight the continued momentum in the cross-border recovery. In the domestic market, we delivered a load factor of 89%, reflecting steady demand in a balanced supply environment. Our network-wide load factor for the quarter was 85%, in line with last year's results. Overall, we delivered first quarter TRASM of 8.62 cents, an 11% increase and in line with our guidance, supported by a responsive approach to evolving demand trends across our network. This performance reflects our continued focus on improving yields and TRASM, solid underlying demand, and the sustained strength of our high-value ancillary revenues. Our top-line resilience continues to be supported by outstanding ancillary performance. Ancillary revenue per passenger increased by 8% versus 2025 and now accounts for 57% of total revenues. Ancillary strength was driven by a finer segmentation of our customers and their product needs, as well as a solid credit card revenue and a grown vacation package business under the Yavas platform. We continue to see a meaningful growth opportunity for ancillaries for the remainder of 2026 and 2027 as we enhance our product suite, capture a more diverse customer base, and refine our pricing strategy. The key to our success remains the low cost and low complexity development of ancillaries that generate high returns on investment. Our loyalty program Altitude now has more than 1 million active members. We remain on track to integrate Altitude with our co-branded credit card by the end of the current quarter, allowing all card transactions to earn loyalty points. Turning now to our approach to the current jet fuel environment. while this remains an evolving story as Enrique highlighted. Volaris is structurally better positioned today than in prior fuel cycles. We are a more diversified and resilient business than in 2022, with a broader commercial toolkit, stronger discipline across our network and growth, and solid underlying demand for our product. Against this backdrop, we are executing a set of targeted actions to mitigate higher fuel prices, combining price adjustments and targeted flight consolidations to preserve cash. On capacity, we have made tactical reductions primarily through frequency optimizations in off-peak periods without canceling routes, allowing us to maintain customer connectivity during key travel periods. We are also reallocating capacity for Volaris' strongest markets, reinforcing our competitive position. To date, we have reduced schedules for April and May, implementing targeted reductions of approximately 2 percentage points in April and 9 percentage points in May. We will continue to monitor the geopolitical situation and we are prepared to implement further reductions accordingly for June and the second half. As a reminder, should we see shift in demand trends, Volaris can adjust close-in capacity more quickly than a typical US carrier, as we do not face their crew rostering constraints. On pricing, we have implemented double-digit fare adjustments in both domestic and international markets, with especially strong absorption in the transporter segment. Our international exposure continues to be a strategic asset for our business, and in this environment, it has demonstrated lower elasticity. In the domestic market, demand has remained resilient to incremental fare adjustments. and we continue to take a measured approach to pricing, while closely monitoring changes in customer demand. Ancillary products continue to be an important lever to help offset fuel pressures, as they are typically less elastic than the base fare. Looking ahead, we expect second quarter revenue performance to benefit from a combination of disciplined capacity, higher yields, and strong seasonal demand, with TRASM expected to reach approximately 9.5 cents. For full year 2026, we now expect ASM growth of around 4%, which reflects the adjustments made to capacity to date, while maintaining flexibility to adjust further as conditions evolve based on jet fuel, price developments and engine returns. Finally, as the FIFA World Cup approaches, we expect a moderate increase in traffic, though we continue to maintain a conservative view of the overall benefit. Fares to World Cup markets have converged industry-wide to levels consistent with our expectations. After a period of tighter inventory management, we are now gradually releasing June seats, with fares in host city markets tracking broadly in line with historical trends, leaving potential upside for close-in bookings. In summary, we are managing the current environment with discipline, leveraging the flexibility of our model, and continuing to strengthen the quality of our revenue and network. Now I will turn the call over to Jaime to cover our first quarter financial results and latest 2026 guidance. Thank you, Holger.

In the first quarter, we continued to act with agility, leaning to our variable cost structure to manage the impact of higher fuel prices on our flying. As we were in our operation, we took on higher costs related to upcoming re-deliveries and the pull forward of other maintenance activities as planned to prefer for the return of GTF-related AOGs to our productive fleet. Turning now to our results, starting with top-line strengths, for the first quarter of 2026, total operating revenues were $770 million, a 14% increase versus the period of last year. This was accomplished just with 2.3% capacity growth versus our guided 3% growth. This performance underscores our continued progress in driving yields and the resilience of our underlying demand. On the top line also benefited from a strengthened peso, which appreciated 14% and contributed to a more favorable translation of domestic revenues into dollars, although provided an incremental cost headwind on peso-denominated expenses. On the cost side, custom was $8.85, an increase of 12% driven by average economic fuel costs that rose 16% during the quarter to $3.06 per gallon. Our cost structure is particularly important during this period of uncertain and higher fuel prices. with almost 70% of our costs being viable or semi-fixed, coupled with our ability to adjust crew schedules closer into flights. We have the ability to nimbly adjust capacity and take related costs out of our operations faster than many of our peers. This flexibility in our cost structure is particularly important during this complex geopolitical environment. In the context of higher fuel prices, it is important to highlight the timing of fuel impact and fair recapture across our financials. Fuel is reflected on our P&L on a current basis. Our reported cash flows and balance benefits from about a 30-day lag. At the same time, our booking curve of approximately 45 days marks a lag in the translation of fair adjustments into results. Ancillaries, by contrast, are more linear and closer in, allowing for faster response. Custom mix fuel was 6.04 cents aligned with our guidance. The 12% year-over-year increase is primarily driven by higher maintenance activity associated with return of aircraft and the pull forward of work to support accelerated engine inductions into Pratt & Whitney shops reflected mainly in the line of depreciation of right-of-use assets as well as professional fees associated with the merger and a higher international schedule mix. For context, landing, takeoff, and navigation expenses for U.S. operations are far higher than for domestic operations. Looking down, our P&L, the impact of our grounded fleet and engine maintenance, along with actions taken to manage the interim capacity deficit, is reflected across several lines. In particular, our depreciation and amortization. right of use, and maintenance items continue to reflect costs of our total fleet of 155 aircraft, including 36 average grounded aircraft during the quarter. Elsewhere in our P&L, I have already addressed the increase in landing, takeoff, and navigation expenses. Another line worth highlighting is salaries and benefits, where the increase primarily reflects depreciation of the Mexican peso, given that this cost line is mostly peso-denominated and reflects the higher headcount associated with the incorporation of 10 additional aircraft year-over-year and the annual salary adjustment in line with Mexican inflation. Meanwhile, in another operating income line, we did not recognize any sale and leaseback gains as we had no aircraft delivered by Airbus during the quarter. This line also includes our aircraft grounding compensation from Pratt & Wilkie. For the first quarter, we generated EVTAR of $177 million, with a net margin of 22.9%. This compares with our guidance of 25%, with the virus solely driven by higher jet fuel prices, as the realized Gulf Coast jet fuel price averaged $2.56 per gallon for the quarter, that is $0.36 above the $2.20 per gallon assumption embedded in our guidance. EBIT was negative $21 million with a minus 2.8% margin. As the AOG trend reverses, we expect to narrow the EBIT to EBIT conversion to support the stronger underlying profitability. Net loss for the quarter was $71 million, translated into a loss per ADS of $0.62. Turning now to cash flow and balance sheet data, for the first quarter, cash flow generated by operating activities was $251 million. The cash outflows provided by and used in investing and financing activities were $34 and $222 million, respectively. CAPEX excluding fleet pre-delivery payment was $87 million, in line with our plan for this year. At the same time, we are actively evaluating initiatives to optimize investment, including selectively reducing non-critical CAPEX while preserving all critical fleet-related spending to preserve cash for the full year. Molaris ended the quarter with a total liquidity position of $767 million. representing 24.5% of the last 12 months' total operating revenues. This level remains broadly in line with the end of last year and reflects a solid position. Looking ahead, we remain focused on preserving cash, supported by disciplined actions and a proactive approach to managing the current environment. At first quarter end, our net debt-to-evita ratio stood at 3.2 times. We continue to have no material near-term debt maturities and have already financed all pre-delivery payments for aircraft scheduled for delivery through mid-2028. We continue to prioritize cost control, profitability, and conservative cash management in all environments. Now, turning to our fleet plan and engine availability, as of March 31st, our fleet consisted of 155 aircraft, with another change of 6.8 years with 66% of the fleet being fuel efficient new models. During the first quarter, We averaged 36 aircraft on ground due to engine-related issues with continued improvement to achieve our plan for the year. During the quarter, we reduced the number of AOGs by 9 aircrafts, peaking at 41 and closing at 32. This represents an important step toward restoring fleet productivity, driving structural improvements in earnings power and long-term performance. At the same time, as we receive additional GTF engines, and bring new aircraft back into operation, we enhance fuel efficiency relative to the CO fleet. We expect the new mix of the operating fleet to increase to an average of approximately 70% for the year, compared to 52% in 2025, reflecting our deliberate focus on maximizing fuel efficiency in the current environment. As Enrique mentioned, we estimate that every 10 aircraft shifted from CEOs to NEOs generates roughly $2 million in monthly fuel savings at current fuel prices. Restoring fleet productivity continues to be a priority. We have a strong conviction that this will drive structural improvements in the fleet efficiency, earnings power, and long-term performance, supporting sustained value creation. As we have highlighted, as grounded aircraft return to service, we generate growth on essentially the same asset base, resulting in a natural earnings tailwind without the need for incremental fleet-related debt over the remainder of the decade. Lease liabilities are expected to decrease by around $340 million in 2027 as our contractual fleet declines on roughly $50 million in annual lease savings. Turning to our outlook, given the volatility in jet fuel prices and limited visibility due to the ongoing geopolitical situation, we are suspending our full year 2026 guidance. While we remain confident in the underlying strength of the business, the demand of our network, and our ability to execute our strategic initiatives, we believe it is prudent to provide an update once conditions stabilize. In this context, I would like to provide directional color on two key variables within our control, ASM growth and CAPEX. On capacity, considering the actions we have taken to date, we now expect 4% annual growth compared to our prior expectation of 7%. Importantly, this remains dynamic as conditions evolve, particularly as capacity reductions have been concentrated in the second quarter and we will make further adjustments on a rolling basis as conditions require. On CAPEX, we are in the process of implementing referrals of non-critical investments to preserve cash. Turning now to our guidance for the second quarter of 2026, we expect an ASM growth in the range of 0 to 2% year-over-year, TRASOM of around 9.5 cents, CASOMEX fuel of approximately 6.8 cents, and an EBITDA margin of around 13%. The increase in CASOMEX fuel in the second quarter primarily reflects non-recurring items and the capacity reduction implemented today. This impact represents roughly 0.7 cents in unit costs in the quarter driven by major related costs and fleet expenses, including incremental expenses associated with aircraft returns, including major maintenance events on four aircraft, and an increase in engine shop visits to 43 events in the second quarter compared to 15 last year, as we accelerate engine inductions into Pratt & Whitney shops to support our targeted reduction in AOGs, resulting in higher maintenance expense in the near term. Coupled with the deliberate actions to align capacity with the current fuel environment, we expect the second quarter to represent the peak in Casomex fuel for the year. Wrapping up, for our second quarter guidance, we are assuming an average foreign exchange rate of around 17.85 Mexican pesos per U.S. dollar and an average U.S. Gulf Coast jet fuel price of approximately $40 per gallon. For April, we hedged 20% of our fuel consumption for peak travel periods, including Semana Santa and Spring Break, at a strike price of of 2.05 per gallon with a break-even price of 2.12 per gallon. This represents approximately 7% of second quarter consumption and an estimated 11 million benefit for the quarter. In summary, while the current environment presents near-term pressures, we are responding with agility and taking proactive actions across the business. We enter in this period from a position of strength and remain confident in our ability to navigate the environment, supported by a flexible model, a solid liquidity position, and multiple levers to drive performance as conditionable. Now, I will turn the call back over to Enrique for closing remarks.

Thank you, Jaime. Overall, we are confident that Volaris' prudent strategy planning, world-leading and highly variable cost structure, and nimble execution in two structurally growing markets in the Mexican and the U.S. market, cross-border sectors position us well for the long term. Before we start Q&A, I'd like to also quickly cover the latest developments in our transaction with Viva. The regulatory process continues to move forward as expected, and we remain in active dialogue with the relevant authorities. We have filed with Mexico's National Antitrust Commission and have already responded and closed the first round of information requests. As you may have seen in the extraordinary shareholders meeting held on March 25th, We received strong support for the transaction with 94% quorum and 92% approval of total outstanding shares. Last week, we received a second request of information. All teams in Mexico and U.S. are working hard to provide the requested information to the relevant authorities in the different countries. At this stage, we continue to expect the overall regulatory review process to take up to 12 months from the transaction announcement date. We'll continue to provide public disclosures and updates on our earning calls as we advance throughout the process and reach new milestones. And now, turn the call over for Q&A.

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please dial star 11 on your phone at this time or any time. If at any point your question is answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 11 again. Questions will be taken in the order they are received. Please hold while we poll for questions. Our first question is from Michael Leningberg with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Yeah, hey, good morning, everyone. a couple of questions here just on fare increases or fuel surcharges that have been implemented and how domestic markets may be compared to international markets. So I'm trying to get a sense of maybe how many fare increases have we seen and are you seeing a better uptick in international or domestic on your ability to recapture the higher fuel expense?

Hi Michael, this is Holger. So on fuel recapture, the first thing I'd like to say is that demand has remained strong in both domestic and international markets despite a $4 fuel per gallon and price adjustments that we've done. We've made fair adjustments step by step and ancillary price adjustments. to help precisely manage the impact of higher fuel prices. And we are encouraged to see stability and a healthy demand in both markets, as I said. And we believe that our ULCC value proposition is attractive and remains attractive in the domestic and international market. But it's also important to mention that we capture improves not only from pricing actions, but especially in the international markets, also from a trade-down effect that we are seeing from higher fare carriers that service the U.S. transporter markets towards our lower fare, base fare model and unmodeled model. So that's what I can tell you about how we're passing through fuel prices. It's a little bit better in the international market, as I mentioned.

Okay. And then just my second question, on the capacity front, we've already seen Aeromexico report, and they're scaling back their capacity several points, as are you. What about the rest of the competition, whether with, you know, from, in this case, it would be mainly non-Mexican carriers. What are you seeing in competitive markets? Are you seeing... supply come out at what you expect, or maybe it's even faster than expected. Thanks for taking my questions.

So we've seen capacity prudence by all competitors in the market. We've seen adjustments, especially for the second quarter of all domestic buyers and in the international market as well for the second quarter. As we move into the high season, July and August capacity cuts have not come through yet, and we are still holding off as well. But we are ready to make further cuts if the fuel price environment remains where it is right now. And as a reminder, our second quarter ASM guidance is now 0% to 2%, which is 10 percentage points less than we had originally planned for the second quarter of 2026. Great. Thank you. Just to follow on here, if you'd like the breakdown between domestic and international for the second quarter, We reduced the domestic market by around 3% negative, and international is going to be mid to high single-digit growth because international has been more robust in 2026.

Great. Great. Thanks, Holger.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rogerio Arujo with Bank of America. Your line is now open.

Hi, guys. Congratulations on the capacity and yield management delivered. I have a couple here. First of all, there is a 70 cents of cash next year impact from the recurring and capacity reductions. Will all this go away as of the 30Q26, or should we continue to see part of that impact? That's the first one. And the second is, how is the company managing to keep capacity growth under mid-single-digit rates by flying back the grounded aircraft from Bretton Whitney? And are these going to generate extra delivery costs besides the one-off expected in the second queue? Thank you.

Thank you for your question. This is Jaime. Starting with Casomex, as Jaime mentioned, the second queue will be the highest peak of the year. And as times continue, it will normalize. As mentioned, we have an impact of around 0.70 cents just by non-recurring items in the second queue. If you add the FX effect plus the capacity cut, it's also like around 0.22 to 0.3. So CASOM is aligned with the CASOM mix that we have last year. I think CASM for full year will be at the level of 6.2, which is aligned with the recovery on productive fleet that we budgeted for the year, which is aligned with the plan that we have been working together with Pratt. And so we are strong believers that we have a strong CASM position. We have a lot of CASM a CASOM which is non-fixed or semi-viable, 70%, which that will continue. And we are going to get the price on the investment on the returning to normality of the fleet in the future with a lower CASOM than the CASOM that we are going to be posting this year.

Perfect. Thank you.

How is the company managing to keep the capacity growth below mid-single dish rates while you receive all these aircraft back that are currently grounded?

Rogerio, this is Enrique Beltranena.

I just want to remind you, and I have been very, very persistent in the saying that Our fleet management is a combination of four very important pieces. First, the return of Pratt & Whitney engines and the incremental fleet that that creates. Second, the re-delivery of the aircrafts that we have in the pipeline. Third, the arrivals of the Airbus aircrafts that are new aircrafts coming into the fleet. We manage the whole equation in a way that it creates a balance of the ASM growth that we are presenting. I want to be very persistent on that and very clear. It's not that we're incrementing fleet in a nonsense way. The addition of all these four pieces make a total equation which controls the capacity based on demand from the customers.

on some data on the general comment made by Enrique. These year actions that we have already implemented for deliveries that were targeted for Volaris this year, we sold those aircrafts to Alessor. In addition, we postponed seven deliveries of 2027 and three deliveries of 2028 until 2023. So that has managed capacity, but also helps the cash because we're all avoiding PDP payments towards that. And that's examples that we have structurally in our fleet strategy embedded in the business that allow us to cut capacity in the really short term. We did it last year. Originally, we were going to grow 15%. We ended up growing only six. This year, we initially thought that we were going to grow 7%. Our expectation is 4%. And that's embedded in the fleet flexibility that we have worked over the years.

That's very clear. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Wayne Sinek with Evercore ISI. Your line is now open.

Hi, thank you. My first one is just about your merger agreement. I'm not sure if you can talk about it, but given the how dynamic the backdrop has been since this agreement was first announced. Are the economics fixed in your agreement or are there adjustment mechanisms based on your relative profitability?

So let me start saying that I think that even before higher fuel prices delivers clear benefits across stakeholders.

It creates greater connectivity and sustains lower first for customers and a stronger and more resilient platform with enhanced long-term value creation for shareholders. I think in a higher fuel environment, scale becomes even more relevant. And this combination strengthens our ability to manage controllable costs through procurement efficiencies better asset utilization and operating leverage at the group level. Importantly, the structure allows both airlines to maintain independent operations, limiting execution risk while capturing scale benefits, positioning us to accelerate growth and deepen penetration of the ultra-local carrier model across Mexico and the trans-border markets. Having said that, the authorities do not take in consideration this kind of comments So we need to accelerate and continue working very hard with authorities to get the approvals that we need as soon as possible.

Thanks for that, Enrique. Maybe just to follow up, from the perspective of Volaris equity holders, assuming that you do ultimately get regulatory approval, is the ratio fixed or is there... Are there adjustment mechanisms based on how the relative profitability plays out?

No, there are no that kind of mechanisms in the transaction.

Well, there are many conditions precedent for the transaction to close. So I'm pretty sure the board of directors will make the right decisions for the transaction to be generating value for all of the shareholders of Volaris.

Thanks for that. And then just for my follow-up, you mentioned in the prepared remarks greater flexibility to make capacity changes closer in. Can you just expand on that a little bit? What are the drivers of that flexibility from a crew perspective? Thanks for taking the questions.

In our model, yeah, sorry, Dwayne, this is Holger. We believe that we have a model that is more flexible inherently than US legacy carriers or any US carriers, as a matter of fact. And that is driven by lower restrictions on the crew rostering side. And we're focusing on scheduled capacity reductions that are focused, for example, on off-peak frequencies. We can quickly adjust underperforming routes with the new fuel price environment, lower yield markets. And we are really focused on optimizing the profitability of our network while maintaining network connectivity for our customers. So we're not canceling any routes. We're nimbly adjusting frequencies as the fuel price environment evolves.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Felipe Nielsen with Citi. your line is now open.

Hey, hello, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. So I just wanted to understand a little better how the booking curve is evolving for you guys in different markets and trying to reconcile that with, okay, we now know what are you expecting for second quarter and but trying to understand how this should roll into third quarter and fourth quarter. Other carriers mentioned a little bit about the expectations on fuel cost recapture later in the year. You mentioned around 20% to 30% in second quarter. Just wanted to understand how you expect pricing, CASMX, and margins to evolve as the booking curve evolves? Thank you.

Thank you. This is Holger again, and I'll start out with giving you a general sense of where we see the booking curves, and then talk a little bit more about fuel price recapture, and then pass it over to Jaime for the cost section. So in terms of booking curves and trends, we're seeing quite solid booking trends into the summer high season, both in the domestic and international market. The cross-border segment has improved steadily since basically mid 2025, after the relatively weak second quarter of 2025. The macro indicators in Mexico, including consumption and wage developments, remain stable, and that translates into stable demand for our air services. In the cross-border segment, The demand trend that we've seen late in 2025 continues in the first quarter and the second quarter of 2026 with an international load factor increasing from 79% in the last quarter of last year to 80% in the first quarter and with improvements in the second quarter. In terms of fuel recapture, what I can tell you is that In the first quarter, a significant portion of our revenues was already booked, and that's also true for April, before the fuel prices spiked. So as a result, in the second quarter, we expect a fuel recapture in the range of 20% to 30%, given our price adjustments to base fare and ancillary revenues that are slowly trickling through the bookings. But as we move into the back half of the year and assuming the current fuel price forward curve, we expect a more progressive improvement of the fuel recapture just because our pricing actions and capacity adjustments are going to be fully reflected in the revenue base. So you'll see higher fuel recapture rates towards the end of the year.

Based on the current jet fuel forward curve, we see a constructive trajectory in the second half, supporting improved earnings. Saying that, that support is equationally improving in operating margins, evitar margin and net profit, trending back to our original expectation by the fourth quarter of the year.

Great.

Thank you. And just a little follow-up. You're seeing this positive oil curve going forward. Are you planning on rolling any hedges, like doing at least a little bit to protect from potential further spikes or anything in that sense? Thank you.

continue to overlaid on a constant basis. If there's a good window to do some hedging, we will do it.

We have not seen in the recent last weeks. Great. Very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Julia Orsi with JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Julia Orsi, your line is open. Please check your mute button.

Our next question comes from the line of Jens Spies with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Yes, hello. Thank you for taking my question. So just assuming that jet fuel remains at spot levels and does not come down according to the like a forward curve. At what level should we then expect TRASM to be in the third quarter, just to get a sense of how much more price increases you would need and could make further down the road? Thank you.

So we're going to continuously evaluate the situation on the fare adjustment and artillery side. We are planning to sequentially improve the fuel pass-through towards the customers as we get more and more new bookings into our reservation system. We are currently showing a good trajectory in the second quarter, double-digit TRASM growth in the second quarter, and we plan to sustain that into the third quarter as well.

Okay, perfect. Maybe ask a different way. You mentioned 20% to 30% fuel recapture in the second quarter. What's the marginal trasm excluding the effect of tickets already sold? The tickets that you sold after the fuel spike, what level are they, more or less, just to get a sense?

for Holger here again. So the fuel recapture, as you said, for the second quarter, we're expecting 20 to 30%. As we see the forward curve materialize, that fuel recapture should increase. And we are planning to sustain the fair adjustments and the ancillary adjustments that we've already put through the system. But I can't give you a specific number right now to pass through in the third quarter.

Okay, okay, okay. Perfect. And if I may, just one last question. You mentioned $2 million in fuel savings from switching to new generation aircraft. So first of all, is that at current jet fuel prices or pre the spike? And also, more or less, what's the delta in the lease cost of switching, just to get a sense of the net impact? Thank you.

This is Jaime. As mentioned in the call, that $2 million corresponds to adding 10 aircrafts switching from CO to NEO at current fuel prices. In addition, there's no effect on rent because I'm paying for the rent for the 155 aircrafts, even though I have 32 aircrafts rounded today. So there's no effect on the lease payments.

Yeah, but conceptually, like... So what's the delta in the lease of a new generation aircraft versus older generation aircraft?

Obviously, NEOs are more expensive than the CEOs, but I'm paying for both today. And the deliveries that we are doing this year, which are 14 deliveries, are all CEOs, which is part of the strategic plan to reduce the gap between productive and unproductive.

Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you.

Excuse me. This concludes today's question and answer session. I would like to invite management to proceed with his closing remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you very much, operator. This is Enrique Beltranena again. I just want to finish the call saying that we remain confident on the actions that we're taking.

And I want to thank you, our family of ambassadors, as well as our board of directors, investors, bankers, lessors, and suppliers. As I said in my opening comments, looking ahead, remaining confident is really important in our ability to navigate this environment. We think we have a very well-prepared company, a team management that has been successful through very much, many of the crises that we had in the past, and we'll continue to prioritize profitability over growth. I look forward to speaking to you on our second quarter call in July, and thank you very much to everybody for being here today.

This concludes the Valerius Conference call for today. Thank you very much for your participation, and have a nice day.