Chorus Aviation Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Corus First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you need assistance, please press star-0 for the operator. This call is being recorded on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tyrone Cote, VP, Treasurer, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Joanna. Hello and thank you for joining us today for our first quarter 2024 conference call and audio webcast. With me today from chorus are Colin Kopp, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Gary Osborne, Chief Financial Officer. We will begin today's call with a brief summary of the results, followed by questions from the analyst community. As there may be some forward-looking discussion during the call, I ask that you refer to the caution regarding forward-looking statements and information found in the MD&A. This pertains specifically to the results and operations of Course Aviation Inc. for the three months set at March 31st, 2024, as well as the outlook section and other sections of our MD&A where such statements appear. In addition, some of the following discussion involves non-GAAP financial measures, including references to adjusted net income, adjusted EBT, adjusted EBITDA, leverage ratio, and free cash flow. Please refer to our MD&A for discussion related to the use of such non-GAAP measures. I'll now turn the call over to Colin Cottle.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Tyrone. This quarter was marked by solid progress on our plan and key metrics, leading to meaningful improvements on our deleveraging goals and generation of strong cash flows. Before I get into the first quarter highlights, I want to acknowledge that we are not satisfied where our share price is trading today, and we recognize that the transition of the leasing business to an asset-light model has been slower than we had planned. This is a top priority for us, and we're very focused on improving value for our shareholders. We're working hard to optimize returns while accelerating and monetizing assets in our Felco leasing business. I am happy to report that since the last quarter, the leasing business has continued to strengthen. Over the past few months, we've seen improvements in both lease renewal rates on key assets and an increase in asset sale opportunities. We remain very confident in the regional leasing space and in our ability to optimize the value of the over 100 owned or majority owned assets under management by Felcom. At the same time, we've been active with our NCIB and have canceled over 5% of our shares since its launch in 2022, including over 900,000 shares this last quarter. And we will continue with our NCIB Now turning back to the first quarter results, throughout the first quarter we performed well and met our financial targets. As I mentioned earlier, this led to solid outcomes on our debt reduction goals and generation of cash flows from operations and asset sales. Gary will speak to those details in his update. This continued progress of strengthening our balance sheet, reducing our debt servicing costs, and generating solid free cash flows will position us for future growth and underscores our absolute determination to drive shareholder value. Throughout the quarter all of our businesses rolled up their sleeves to contribute to these results. Jazz generated solid earnings and cash flows under its long-term capacity purchase agreement with Air Canada. Throughout the quarter Jazz was Throughout the quarter, Jazz saw pilot recruitment strengthen with the intake for its pilot classes full several months in advance. Randolph and his team at Jazz have demonstrated exceptional operational performance in Q1 with notable year-over-year improvements in almost all metrics. Belco executed well on trading activity, with Jeremy and the team concluding 23 aircraft transactions, including the sale of three aircraft and two engines in support of our asset light strategy. And they executed on a sale and purchase agreement with Nordic Aviation Capital to acquire a portfolio of 24 Embraer aircraft on behalf of Fund 2. Voyager continued to execute on the growth plan. with Corey and team pursuing several new business development opportunities, making strong progress in key areas of specialty flying, MRO, and USM. Additionally, we're very pleased to announce that Voyager purchased a King Air 350 in the first quarter and leased it into the Canadian Department of National Defense. This represents an expansion of Voyager's existing in-service support contract for the manned airborne intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance program, MASER. Given the strong performance of our operating business, today I'm pleased to report that we are increasing our 2024 guidance for consolidated adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, as well as the majority of guidance for RAL, including net proceeds from asset sales. In conclusion, I'd like to reiterate the fundamentals of our business are strong and that we will continue to improve them. Chorus has the right elements and the right blend of capabilities to be an industry leader within the regional aviation space and to deliver great value to our shareholders. The Chorus team represents the best talent our industry has to offer and I want to thank each one of them for their focus and contributions throughout the quarter. Finally, I want to express my thanks to our investors for their ongoing support as I reiterate our commitment to value creation and to building a resilient industry-leading business. Thank you. I'll now pass it over to Gary to take you through the financials.