Q2 2026 Cargojet Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #3: Good day and welcome to the Cargo Jet Canada conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference to David Tomljenovic.

Speaker #3: Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on this call. With me on the call today are Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman; Pauline Dhillon, Chief Executive Officer; Aaron McKay, Chief Financial Officer; Sanjeev Mahini, VP Finance; and Remy Tremblay, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

Speaker #4: After opening remarks about the quarter, we'll open the call for questions. I'd like to point out that certain statements made on this call, such as those relating to our forecasted revenues, costs, and strategic plans, are forward-looking within the meaning of applicable securities laws.

Speaker #4: This call also includes references to non-GAAP measures like adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share, and return on invested capital. Please refer to our most recent press release and MD&A for important assumptions and cautionary statements relating to our forward-looking information and for reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP income.

Speaker #4: I'll now turn the call over to Pauline.

Speaker #5: Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We delivered another strong quarter, demonstrating once again the resilience of Cargojet's business model and the strength of our long-term customer relationships, despite continued market uncertainty.

Speaker #5: These results would not have been possible without the dedication of our team members. I would like to take a moment to sincerely thank every member of the Cargojet team for their continued commitment and outstanding efforts, as well as thank our customers for continuing to trust Cargojet with their time-sensitive shipments each day.

Speaker #5: Our premium service built on reliability and consistency continues to differentiate Cargo Jet. Once again, we delivered an industry-leading on-time performance of 99.2%, reflecting the operational excellence our customers have come to expect.

Speaker #5: Throughout the quarter, we remained focused on what we can control: delivering exceptional service, operating safely and efficiently, and deploying our fleet where it creates the greatest long-term value.

Speaker #5: Our one fleet approach continues to be a significant competitive advantage; it gives us the flexibility to dynamically deploy aircraft across our network, improve utilization, and pursue the highest return opportunities as market conditions evolve.

Speaker #5: Higher fuel prices and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty remain headwinds during the quarter. Despite those challenges, our resilient business model discipline execution and focus on our customers enabled us to deliver another strong quarter.

Speaker #5: Aaron will provide additional detail on our financial performance in a few moments. Before turning to our business segments, I'd like to briefly comment on our recently completed pilot agreement.

Speaker #5: We are pleased to have reached a well-balanced, five-year collective agreement that recognizes and competitively compensates our pilots, while preserving the flexibility and productivity that support Cargojet's long-term competitiveness.

Speaker #5: The agreement also continues our longstanding no-strike-no-lockout provision, providing stability and operational certainty for our customers, our pilots, and our value team members. I would like to sincerely thank our pilots ALPA and everyone involved for their professionalism throughout this process.

Speaker #5: As customer agreements come due, we will look to pass these costs through, many of these conversations have begun, but we anticipate a lag in timing.

Speaker #5: We look forward to building on this partnership over the next years. Turning to our business segments, our domestic overnight continued to perform well and remains the foundation of Cargo Jet's business.

Speaker #5: Supported by a strong customer demand and exceptional service, it continues to play an essential role in Canada's supply chain. Charter flying delivered another strong quarter, including continued support flying for UPS.

Speaker #5: This business segment continues to enhance, fleet utilization, strengthen customer relationships, and create long-term value. This year, we were proud to celebrate 25 years of partnership with UPS.

Speaker #5: We are pleased to continue to fly their charters for the remainder of the end of this year to the end of Q4. We look forward to supporting their continued growth for years to come.

Speaker #5: One of Cargo Jet's greatest strengths is our diversified portfolio of long-term customer relationships, across our domestic overnight network, charter business, hybrid ACMI, interline, and international operations.

Speaker #5: That diversification provides resilience, creates flexibility, and positions us well to navigate changing market conditions while continuing to create long-term value for our shareholders. Our European hub and liège continues to exceed our expectations.

Speaker #5: Strong demand including our recently launched Liège-Tel Aviv service, demonstrates the opportunities to grow our international network by leveraging existing assets while improving fleet utilization.

Speaker #5: We believe this model can be replicated in other regions as we continue expanding our global footprint. Our interline business also delivered another excellent quarter, while growing volumes from our airline partners, further strengthening our domestic network and improving fleet utilization.

Speaker #5: Our ACMI business remains stable during the quarter and continues to provide an important source of diversified revenue. As opportunities emerge, we will continue allocating aircraft where they generate the strongest long-term returns.

Speaker #5: Overall, we are very pleased with our performance for the quarter. Looking ahead, we expect the global economic and geopolitical environment to remain uncertain. However, Cargojet has successfully navigated changing market conditions for more than two decades by staying focused on what matters: our customers, our people, and disciplined execution.

Speaker #5: We remain confident in our strategy and in the strength of our business. We have exceptional people, longstanding customer relationships, and a resilient operating model that has consistently performed through changing market conditions.

Speaker #5: Together, these strengths position Cargo Jet to continue creating long-term value for our customers, our team members, and our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Aaron.

Speaker #1: Thank you, Pauline. And thank you to everyone for joining us today. Our positive results this quarter reflect the organizational agility that is foundational to Cargojet’s business and our ability to deliver disciplined growth across market cycles, as we generated $275.8 million of revenue and $87.3 million of adjusted EBITDA, with improvements in each metric both sequentially and year over year.

Speaker #1: As Pauline mentioned, the rising price of fuel had an impact on our results this quarter. And I think it's worth taking a moment to walk through how.

Speaker #1: Like other industry players, Cargojet generally passes on fuel costs to customers through a surcharging mechanism. Because fuel surcharges increase revenue in direct proportion to changes in fuel costs, we do not expect them to have a material long-term impact on profitability.

Speaker #1: As a result, when fuel surcharges increase significantly, reported adjusted EBITDA margins can become temporarily diluted. In the second quarter of 2026, that dilution amounted to approximately 260 basis points of margin, with no material impact on adjusted EBITDA itself.

Speaker #1: During the second quarter of 2026, excluding the impact of fuel price increases versus the second quarter of 2025, we generated revenue of $250.1 million, an increase of $11.9 million, or 5% year over year.

Speaker #1: Our domestic overnight network generated second quarter revenue net of the impact of fuel price passed through year over year, of 104.9 million dollars, an improvement of 3% year over year, and a slight improvement sequentially.

Speaker #1: During the second quarter of 2026, our hybrid ACMI business generated revenue of $54.7 million, representing a slight sequential improvement from the first quarter of 2026, but a 12% decline year over year, as the transition from east-west transoceanic flying to north-south intra-Americas flying had not been fully completed in Q2 of 2025.

Speaker #1: Our charter business continued its strong performance during the second quarter, generating $54.7 million of net revenue, representing 37% year-over-year growth, as we continued to see success with our Liège service, Central and South American charter partner, and support flying for a previous MD-11 operator.

Speaker #1: While long-term visibility remained somewhat limited, priority air cargo continues to be one of the few reliable options for customers requiring certainty and speed in moving critical shipments.

Speaker #1: This makes it a valuable service for many customers, despite the current market environment. Our revenue growth, combined with our continued focus on revenue quality, cost control, and fleet and flight-level asset utilization, resulted in another strong quarter of adjusted EBITDA.

Speaker #1: Adjusted EBITDA was $87.3 million, compared to $80.2 million in the same period last year, while adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.7%, when adjusted for the approximately 260 basis point compression as a result of fuel price increases, represented a slight year-over-year improvement in the core business.

Speaker #1: Our focus on fleet and flight-level asset utilization, as well as ongoing cost management initiatives, contributed to strong free cash flow generation of $56.2 million during the quarter.

Speaker #1: This represents a significant improvement from the 72.5 million dollar cash outflow experienced in the second quarter of 2025. Our capital priorities remain unchanged, and our strong free cash flow generated during the quarter further supported our deleveraging efforts, resulting in a reduction of our leverage ratio to 2.6 times that quarter end, well on the path to our objective of below 2.5 times.

Speaker #1: Consistent with our capital allocation priorities and our commitment to returning capital to shareholders, we also repurchased 121,390 shares during the second quarter of 2026.

Speaker #1: We will continue to evaluate opportunities to repurchase shares when we believe they represent an attractive use of capital. Before I conclude, I want to provide some additional context regarding our recently completed five-year pilot agreements.

Speaker #1: As Pauline noted, we're pleased to have concluded a new agreement with our pilot group that moves us more towards market standards of both compensation and operational productivity.

Speaker #1: Effective July 1st, 2026, our pilots will see a wage increase of 26%, followed by annual increases of 5% each over each of the subsequent four years through June 30, 2031.

Speaker #1: Just as the agreement brings our pilot group more in line with market wage levels, it also includes several productivity provisions that bring us closer to market standards. This includes moving us from a baseline of 15 to 16 working days per month, with an option for those who value the current work-life balance to stay at 15 days for most of the year, with proportional compensation.

Speaker #1: These improvements bring our business more in line with the market. As Pauline noted, a key component of this agreement is the continued inclusion of the no strike, no lockout provision which recognizes the different operational requirements between cargo and air passenger carriers as the provision provides our customers with confidence in the continued reliability and stability of our operations.

Speaker #1: For clarity, crew cost as reported in our financial statements includes several costs that are not directly driven by wages, including per diems, as well as hotel and transportation costs.

Speaker #1: Costs driven directly by wages have historically represented approximately 60% to 65% of the total crew costs reported in our financial statements. Overall, we believe this agreement provides the appropriate balance between recognizing the important contribution of our pilots, maintaining our competitive position, and providing the long-term operational certainty required by our customers.

Speaker #1: Absorbing these costs without long-term impact to our margins is critical to our business. As you know, we've been focused on cost control initiatives for some time, and as Pauline mentioned, as customer agreements come due, we will look to pass through the additional cost increases.

Speaker #1: That'll take some time to work through, but I'll note that some of these conversations have already begun. And with that, I'll hand the call back to Pauline.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Aaron. In previous quarters, we have highlighted the elevated levels of volatility and uncertainty across our markets. As we move through the third quarter, these challenges remain, but we are also seeking new opportunities to emerge.

Speaker #2: Our partners continue to grow, which gives us confidence that their growth will create additional opportunities for cargo jet. More importantly, we remain focused on pursuing selective and accretive international growth opportunities that leverage our existing fleet.

Speaker #2: We have said many times that cargo jet is built for change. What has become evident during this quarter is that we are also built for disciplined growth.

Speaker #2: Our business continues to evolve. Over the past several quarters, we have challenged ourselves to identify opportunities for improvement across our entire organization—from finance to sales, and technology to operations.

Speaker #2: While the foundation of Cargojet will always remain the same, a stronger and more agile Cargojet continues to emerge. I understand that change can be challenging, and that is why I want to extend my sincerest and deepest appreciation to the entire Cargojet team.

Speaker #2: It is their hard work, their commitment, and their belief in this organization that continue to drive our success. With that, operator, we'll take questions.

Speaker #3: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press star two.

Speaker #3: One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Conart Gupta from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Thanks, and good morning, everyone. Congrats on a good quarter.

Speaker #2: Thanks, Conart.

Speaker #4: Good morning, Pauline. I want to dig into the ACMI segment a little bit here. DHL recently reported their quarterly numbers, and it seems like they're seeing a volume inflection in their express segment.

Speaker #4: I guess those are your customers. Obviously, one of the biggest customers you have. Just curious, when do you see the inflection in your ACMI business with them?

Speaker #4: I mean, is there any disconnect between what you do versus what they are seeing in their volumes, or have they not yet given you sort of incremental volumes for the next little while?

Speaker #2: Yeah, Conart, I'll take that question. No, they haven't given us any indication at this time, but we have a very strong relationship with ACMI with DHL.

Speaker #2: We've always been their first in and last out operator. As their volumes continue to grow, we definitely look at that as opportunities for cargo jets ACMI growth.

Speaker #1: And the other thing I'll add there to Aaron here, Conart, maybe I'll add is by the end of Q2 last year, we had completed the transition to the North-South Interamericas flying for them.

Speaker #1: So, I would expect from a comp perspective, as you look forward to future quarters, you'll be more in line. You won't see the same annual declines.

Speaker #4: I see. So the comp effect will normalize going forward in the second half, right? But we should not expect maybe a big turnaround in volumes.

Speaker #4: If I understood correctly.

Speaker #2: Well, at this sorry. We anticipate that they will grow because that's where they're trending at this point. They're projections for Q3, Q4 have all indications that ACMI and their volumes will grow.

Speaker #2: And as I stated earlier, we are their first preferred partner of choice. We're the first in and the last out. So, as market trends change and as global flows increase, we are positioned well to take on any additional ACMI flying that they may have.

Speaker #4: Understood. That makes sense, thanks. And maybe, adding on the fleet side—it seems like you haven't changed anything for the fleet plan, but I noticed that this is a 767-200 that you guys are converting right now.

Speaker #4: That's coming in 2027. Looking to offload that. So, what's the rationale for not including it in your fleet? I mean, do you have enough capacity to absorb future demand?

Speaker #4: And do you have any access fleet from the recent transaction with 21 Air that you might also be looking to divest?

Speaker #1: Yeah, Conart. So we're looking at I mean, we've been looking for the last little while at an exercise of sort of cleaning up the balance sheet and looking at assets that we can either make use of or monetize and this is one of those two airframes that we've mentioned in previous quarters we've had as feedstock.

Speaker #1: So this is part of those efforts of looking to clean up the balance sheet. Right now, we haven't added it to the fleet plan because we're considering some opportunities to invest in aircraft, but to your point, I think we've said for the last year if and when we have material accretive growth opportunities that we can generate strong ROIC with a new asset, we'll look to do that.

Speaker #4: Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker #3: Your next question comes from Walter Spracklin from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Hey, this is James McGargle. I'm on for Walter this morning. Good morning.

Speaker #2: Hi, James.

Speaker #5: Hey, I just wanted to ask—can I get a progress update on the revenue for aircraft, or the One Fleet strategy? You mentioned last quarter that some of the DHL aircraft are now available for incremental charter opportunities.

Speaker #5: So can you just quantify how much incremental revenue was generated in Q2 from DHL aircraft? And how much more opportunity is there from here with this strategy as we look into the back half and into 2027?

Speaker #1: Yeah. I think it's going to be tough for us to specifically say how much incremental revenue was generated from those particular aircraft. I think we'll continue to look at opportunities where either aircraft are underutilized or they're sitting for a period of time.

Speaker #1: So a great example is Pauline mentioned in her prepared remarks the launch of our service from Liège to Tel Aviv. When we launched the Liège service earlier this year, we mentioned that it was using an aircraft that was otherwise idle over the weekend.

Speaker #1: That aircraft in Liège sits for a period of time, and so we've been looking for opportunities to use that, and Tel Aviv emerged as a winner for us.

Speaker #1: So, from an overall network point of view, it's looking at those sorts of opportunities of where we can pick up incremental work with aircraft that are otherwise sitting.

Speaker #2: Yeah, James, just to add to what Aaron said, our one fleet strategy is working well for us. It's improved our yields without growing any capex.

Speaker #2: Just to add on what Aaron's saying, we are exploring opportunities to utilize our fleet but ensuring that we have the most accretive routes that we deploy on.

Speaker #2: The hybrid ACMI fleet has also allowed us to operate for that customer on their schedules and block our agreements that we have in place.

Speaker #2: But we're able to utilize those assets when they are sitting idle. We're doing a number of charters from Miami into South America, into North America, and to further Aaron's point, when the assets are sitting in Canada and they're not being utilized, whether they're on the East Coast or the West Coast, we're deploying those assets.

Speaker #2: In November, when we launched the Liège route, we were very optimistic with it, and today we're very pleased with it. We were able to extend that, and today, when the asset would have just remained here in North America, it's being utilized to fly to Liège. We've been exploring opportunities, and we continue to explore opportunities, and we've been very successful in going into Tel Aviv.

Speaker #2: On the other side of the nation, on the West Coast, we're now looking at charter opportunities into China with those assets that sit in Vancouver.

Speaker #2: So we're constantly looking for new opportunities with the one fleet strategy and we're very pleased with the outcome. I hope that answers that question.

Speaker #5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that does. I appreciate the caller. And then, just on the charter business—obviously, that was a standout in the quarter. But can you just help us break down and understand how much was driven by sustainable new routes?

Speaker #5: Any impact from the MD-11 grounding and potential one-time ad hoc activity? Just want to get a better understanding with the MD-11 winding down to Q3 or potentially into the back half of the year, how we should be thinking about the charter run rate.

Speaker #5: Ex the MD-11 uplift.

Speaker #2: So, the MD-11 is now extended until Q4. It's really hard for us to determine the charter revenue per aircraft, primarily because that's what we do.

Speaker #2: We look for opportunities to utilize the assets when the assets are not operating whether they're for the ACMI customer or for the domestic network.

Speaker #5: I appreciate the caller, and I'll turn the line over. Thank you.

Speaker #3: Your next question comes from Tim James from TD Cowan. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Thanks very much. Good question. Returning to the new pilots' agreement, you've outlined the annual wage increases there. While highlighting the productivity improvements, I just want to focus on that a little bit, because that's obviously an important component to forecasting over the next couple of years, as opposed to just thinking about the wage increases.

Speaker #5: Is there any sort of more color you can provide us, or kind of help in terms of shaping up expectations on what productivity improvements really mean and how we should think about those in terms of our modeling and forecasting going forward?

Speaker #1: Yeah. Tim, it's Aaron here. I think one of the things I mentioned in the prepared remarks was this moves us closer to sort of an industry standard of workdays per month.

Speaker #1: So I think everyone we've talked to knows that we've been a bit low on that metric versus the rest of the market. What that means is the pilot group will be flying a bit more per person.

Speaker #1: And so it'll probably take a little bit of time to fully realize the benefits of that as we grow into it. Our pilot group today is, I think, of a good size for our business.

Speaker #1: As you know, we've spent some time over the last year optimizing for the reserve pool, and over time I think as we continue to grow through the next couple of quarters, you'll see us utilize that additional time more and more effectively.

Speaker #4: Tim, it's AJ. I'll just weigh in, as Aaron indicated, that our workdays used to be 15 per month per pilot and are now going up to 16.

Speaker #4: And also some of the training days, which would be, say, over the next year—at least two to three training days on top of that per year.

Speaker #4: So, as we move forward with the wage increases, which were behind the industry, our productivity also lagged, which is now becoming closer to the industry as well.

Speaker #4: While giving the pilots flexibility, if they want to work less—15, then they get prorated and get paid less. So while the wages are now matching the industry, the productivity is also catching up with the industry, which we lagged.

Speaker #4: So I think combine that with our ability when the contracts with the customers come due to ask for those increases will put us in a better position overall.

Speaker #5: Okay. And then my second question related is the as we look at crew costs today, I know last year there was some heightened costs related to training and to overtime if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker #5: Have those sort of impacts more or less normalized now as we think if we look at Q2 as sort of a base case or are they still sort of higher than they would be at a steady state under normal conditions?

Speaker #4: So I think some of them have normalized. In Q2, but with these productivity improvements, they would further be normalized or get reduced, as we go on.

Speaker #5: Okay, that's great. Thank you very much, AJ.

Speaker #3: Your next question comes from Cameron Darksen from National Bank. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Thanks. Good morning. I want to ask about the domestic network. Just if you can comment maybe what kind of trends you're seeing there.

Speaker #5: Obviously, some decent revenue growth, but just what do you see into Q3 and Q4 from your customers there and have you got any, I guess, early indication on peak volumes from your customers yet or is it maybe too early to tell?

Speaker #1: Yeah. No. I'll take

Speaker #2: That question. July has been strong. We're continuing to see strong growth in our domestic business. It's probably driven by e-commerce. I often refer back to a change that we've seen in patterns here to secondary markets.

Speaker #2: When the Hudson's Bay sort of closed their doors, we've seen more B2C. It seems like the secondary markets now are not going to retailers.

Speaker #2: Retailers aren't carrying inventories as they were. They're moving into more of the warehousing. So we're seeing an uptick on e-commerce, primarily into the secondary markets.

Speaker #2: We anticipate domestic to remain strong for Q3 and Q4.

Speaker #5: Okay. That's helpful. And just going back to the, I guess, the fleet and maybe I guess more specifically the CapEx expectation, for this year, is there any, I guess, change to the gross CapEx number you expect for 2026 and I guess is there any, I guess, change on, I guess, the outlook into 2027 specifically around maintenance CapEx?

Speaker #1: Yeah. The only change I would say at this point, Cameron, is we noted in the MD&A and the capable earlier that we did decide to take one of the feedstock 767 200s and put it through conversion.

Speaker #1: That'll add 10 to 15 million dollars of CapEx this year. And maybe 5 next year.

Speaker #5: Okay. No.

Speaker #2: I think, Cameron, the key is that all CapEx that Aaron just talked about will be either matched with the increased demand or we have potential to lease these aircraft out if we don't need it.

Speaker #2: So it'll not just set up simply sitting idle.

Speaker #5: Okay. No. Perfect. That's helpful. I'll pass the line. Thanks very much.

Speaker #2: Okay.

Speaker #3: Your next question comes from Benoit Poirier from Desjardins Capital Market. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Yeah. Good morning, everyone, and congratulations for the solid results. Maybe Pauline, could you discuss about the upcoming customer agreement up for renewal this year and what you would expect in terms of pricing?

Speaker #2: Yeah. Good morning and thank you, Benoit. There are no customer agreements coming into the contract customers this year. The next ones will be 2029 and 2030.

Speaker #2: But we are speaking to customers about this new increase and we are passing it through where we can with where the pilots are concerned.

Speaker #2: So we are looking at certain customers that do have shorter-term contracts and we are introducing these new costs to them.

Speaker #6: Okay, that's great. And last quarter, you provided a good update on the international opportunities in countries that you've been looking at. Could you maybe provide an update on the discussions you're having, whether you've added some geographies, and whether there are some that are close to the finish line?

Speaker #2: Yeah, absolutely. We've added Tel Aviv. This last quarter—Q1—was focused on Liège. We built that lane, and we built a lot of trade between Canada and Liège.

Speaker #2: And now we've extended Liège to Tel Aviv. We are in a lot of conversations, still pursuing Africa, the Far East. We are doing charters now back from Western Canada into China.

Speaker #2: We look for opportunities there. Again, with the fleet sitting on the weekends, we're utilizing the assets well. And we continue to look at opportunities throughout Europe.

Speaker #2: And Far East Asia. As well as Africa. And the Middle East.

Speaker #6: That's great. Thank you very much for the caller.

Speaker #1: Thanks, Benoit.

Speaker #2: Thanks, Benoit.

Speaker #3: Your next question comes from Kevin Chiang from CIBC. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Hey. Thanks for taking my questions here. Maybe just not to belabor the point on the new labor agreement and how it flows through our models.

Speaker #4: I guess if I just think of it simplistically, adjusting for some of the stock-based comp noise in Q2 and looking at Q1 as well, you're kind of run rating about 27 million a quarter of crew costs.

Speaker #4: Aaron, I think you said about 60 to 65 percent of that is wages. So am I just applying like a 26 percent lift to that?

Speaker #4: Starting in Q3 here, and then just adding kind of the 35% of that $27 million? Is that kind of a simple way to think of it?

Speaker #4: And if I ran the math, so that gets me around 31, 32 million a quarter. Is that kind of the right ballpark to think about where crew costs go from here on?

Speaker #1: I think, at a gross level, that's the correct math. There are going to be the offsets that we'll get out of the productivity in there.

Speaker #1: I think if you look at the math of 16, 15ths, of work is probably a good way to look at the math there. Plus just there's a couple of training days.

Speaker #4: Okay. And I guess if I think of that productivity, I guess simplistically, as you and AJ said, you're going from 15 to 16 days.

Speaker #4: That's like I guess a 6 percent offset. Is it I guess that's the offset you're talking about against that 26 percent wage increase?

Speaker #2: Yeah. Kevin, that's exactly right. You got one day equals six and a half percent, I guess, of productivity plus some training days as we go.

Speaker #2: In the first year, we get one training day. Within the second year, two and the third year, three and four year, four. So over the course, we would be looking at probably average two additional training days a year.

Speaker #2: That we get on top of that. But also, not just the productivity, but it also gives us opportunities to be more price competitive with American carriers that we constantly compete with for charters.

Speaker #2: Now we have a lot more crew days if you look at the total crew days, we gain about 6,000 crew days here. So over the year.

Speaker #2: And that productivity gives us a lot more pricing flexibility long-term sustainability and also reduces the need for overtime that we had. So it's a very well-balanced agreement where the industry productivity and wages are now closer to the market than they were.

Speaker #4: That's helpful. Pauline, you mentioned some of the longer-term contracts. We'll take a little bit of time here to reprice on this new labor agreement.

Speaker #4: I guess for ACMI and Charter, I often think of those as you're kind of pricing that in real time. Is there a way to think about, maybe, the potential revenue step-up here?

Speaker #4: If we just assume, let's say, the amount of flying is the same, but just related to this labor contract, is it something that could be relatively material on a quarter-over-quarter basis, just as you look to reprice those rates to reflect the new labor agreement?

Speaker #2: Yeah. Kevin, that's absolutely correct. We're going to reprice that. We're also looking at the mid-market customers we're aligning that pricing because that's subject to annual pricing versus contract pricing.

Speaker #2: So all of those are being adjusted accordingly.

Speaker #4: And Kevin, you're right. Kevin, you're right on the charters, and ACMI, and some of the other stuff, which is real-time pricing. That new pricing will be taken into account for the quotes, and all that stuff is provided.

Speaker #4: Okay, that's helpful. And maybe last one for me, and maybe I'll borrow from James's question earlier and ask it a little bit differently. It looks like, when I look at the last, let's say, two to three quarters, your EBITDA per block hour has seen a step up here.

Speaker #4: Maybe closer to what you're seeing during the pandemic, actually, when clearly the market was in a different place. Feels like some of this might relate the might be related to the one fleet strategies.

Speaker #4: One fleet strategy. Just wondering, how should we think about EBITDA per block hour? Is there a lot of upside here still, even with the lift you've seen over the past two, three quarters, just given some of these initiatives you've been pursuing?

Speaker #2: Yeah. One thing I'll say before Aaron and Pauline answer, one of the strategies that Pauline has implemented is quality of revenue and revenue enhancement. That means quite a bit of yield management.

Speaker #2: Quality of revenue means stuff that's not profitable or shouldn't be on our flights because it's not time-sensitive, and we were pricing it with passenger carriers.

Speaker #2: Those are the days of the past. So I think the you'll see that the revenue enhancements and revenue improvements, yield improvement initiatives that have been started a number of months ago are paying dividends now.

Speaker #2: So I'll let Aaron and Pauline comment on the rest of it.

Speaker #3: Yeah. Thanks, AJ. Kevin, I'll put it really simply. We've recognized that we're the best steakhouse in the city. We're not going to charge cake pricing anymore.

Speaker #3: We're realigning our revenue. We're looking at better revenue quality. We're looking at routes. We're looking at lanes. We're looking at we're looking at everything.

Speaker #3: And we're reassessing our pricing. We're looking at mid-market; e-commerce is certainly surging. We're looking at mid-market customers. We're expanding, and we're looking at our DIM factors.

Speaker #3: We're looking at utilization of the aircraft. That's why you see a big bump in interline. We're going out and having conversations with those customers.

Speaker #3: So we're filling a lot of gaps that were in place in the domestic overnight previously to us looking at the revenue quality.

Speaker #1: And I'll add, at the same time, we've been talking for the last three, four quarters about how we're trying to pressurize the cost structure constantly.

Speaker #1: I think CargoJet has always been a nimble lean carrier, but one of the things we're making sure we're watching as we look at revenue initiatives to Pauline's point is making sure that we're keeping the lid on costs at the same time.

Speaker #4: That's very helpful, Colin. Thank you very much.

Speaker #5: Your next question comes from Razi Hasan from Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just for to start off with, just in regards to volume growth and domestic business for the quarter, could you let us know what that was outside of the CPI-related growth?

Speaker #1: Yeah. We don't report specific volumes on the domestic network. I mean, I think if you look at the financials, we think of the domestic network as the unit sort of being the operating day.

Speaker #1: And so if you look at the revenue per operating day, that's probably the right metric to think of as a unit growth.

Speaker #6: Okay. Fair enough.

Speaker #2: And we're seeing that an increasing amount of growth in e-commerce is coming from our mid-market customers.

Speaker #6: Okay. That's fair. And I may have missed this one, but just on CapEx for the remainder of the year, can you provide any color on how to think about that for Q3 and Q4?

Speaker #1: Yeah. No change to what we've talked about previously, other than, like we said, we've put $1,767,200 into conversion. That's likely to have somewhere in the range of $10 to $15 million this year, and maybe another $5 million next year.

Speaker #1: And to AJ's point, I mean, that's CapEx that will either be tied to meaningful revenue growth in the EBITDA growth opportunities if they arise or divestment opportunities, which is what we've got in the fleet plan right now.

Speaker #6: Okay. Great. Maybe just one last one just on the fuel surcharge revenue. For the remainder of the year, should we look at it more as closer to Q1 levels?

Speaker #6: Obviously, from the Q2 hike, or maybe how should we think about that for Q3 and Q4?

Speaker #1: Look, I mean, the fuel has been so volatile and there's been a lot of reaction to each side of the current conflict in Iran saying certain things.

Speaker #1: I think our expectation right now is it remains elevated at the moment. It seems like it's likely to remain elevated, but if I could predict the energy markets that well, I think I'd be a happy man.

Speaker #6: Yeah, fair enough, Aaron. Thanks for the color, appreciate it. Passing the line.

Speaker #5: And your last question for today comes from Chris Murray from ATB Carmark. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Yeah, thanks, folks. I guess maybe I'm just going to try to tie some of this together a little bit, because I think the question around the revenue efficiency—if I look at it and I look at extra fuel charge, your revenue was up about 7%, but block hours were maybe down 7%.

Speaker #2: And we think about that in context of the lower capital spending, maybe the more disciplined around fleet. How are you guys thinking about how that all combines going forward, thinking that you've got the MD-11s, that capacity you'll have to replace, and being able to maintain that quality of revenue in a capital discipline fashion?

Speaker #2: How do we think about longer term—into '27 and '28—how you're expecting to see return on invested capital trend, and your thoughts around the business longer term?

Speaker #1: So Chris, I mean, I'll start maybe at the end of that question. Return on invested capital is something that I am laser focused on.

Speaker #1: It's one of the reasons we've been talking about cleaning things up on the balance sheet and to your point, improving the quality of revenue, the quality of EBITDA.

Speaker #1: If you look at the trending in our LIC, particularly in the denominator, over the last two quarters, I think we've had ending invested capital start to come down from some of the peaks 60 quarters ago or 4 to 6 quarters ago.

Speaker #1: And so, just because of the way the math works there and you do the average invested capital, there's a bit of a drag as you look at some of those peaks.

Speaker #1: It'll take us another three, four quarters to get past that. But I think at that point, you'll start to see average invested capital in a more reasonable place at the same time as we're working on the NOPAT side.

Speaker #1: I think, in general, what you're pointing at is exactly what we're trying to accomplish as a management team, which is to be more efficient and work on higher quality revenue and higher quality margin with the assets we have.

Speaker #2: Yeah. No, I think you've summed it up well. Aaron, it's exactly what we've been saying on the call. It's growth, international growth outside of the borders of Canada.

Speaker #2: It's utilizing the assets. While keeping laser focus on our costs.

Speaker #1: Okay. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.

Speaker #5: And there are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Pauline for closing remarks.

Speaker #2: Thank you, everyone, for participating on our call today. We look forward to speaking to you in the next quarter. Have a great day.