Jonathan Ornstein
Analyst · Raymond James. Thank you. Your line is open
Thank you, operator, good afternoon and thank you for standing-by everyone on the call. I'd like to welcome you to the second quarter fiscal year 2021 earnings call. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to me. This is Jonathan Ornstein. I'm the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mesa Airlines. On the call with me today is, Mike Lotz, our President and Chief Financial Officer; Brian Gillman, our Executive VP and General Counsel; and Brad Rich, our Chief Operating Officer; and Torque Zubeck, our new Senior Vice President of Finance. You may have seen the announcement. But to reiterate, Torque brings 20 years of industry experience from Alaska Airlines, and will be a terrific asset on both the operational and financial side of our business. I'd like to open up with our forward-looking statements, before the presentation and comments begin, Mesa would like to remind you that our press release comments made on the conference call and responses to your questions during this call may include forward-looking statements, as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As such, they are subject to future events and uncertainties that could also reflect our results to differ materially from those statements. Also please note, the company undertakes no obligation and makes no commitment to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our press release and the risk factors, included in our filings with the SEC, which Mesa encourages you to read. In addition, please refer to our press release in the Investors section of the Mesa Airlines' website to find additional disclosure and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures that will be used on today's call. Okay. I'd like to begin with my usual way by thanking all of our people in the field for their dedication and hard work throughout what is clearly one of the most, if not the most challenging period for our industry. Thank you, everybody. In spite of this tough environment, I'd like to cover a number of highlights from the quarter. On the financial side, we reported the pretax profit of $7.6 million, which included a $4.5 million non-cash adjustment for the purchase of a previously leased CRJ-900, resulting in an adjusted pretax profit of $12.1 million or $0.23 per share. At American, after reaching an agreement to extend our capacity purchase agreement in November 2020, for five years for 40 aircraft, American increased that number about five additional aircrafts starting in January and extending through the summer months. At United, we added two more of the 20 new Embraer 175 LL aircraft roughly, with the last two deliveries expected next month, bringing the total Embraer 175 fleet to 80. In our cargo operation, we are adding third 737-400, which we expect to be in service in July to support the existing operation. As a reminder, we are the first and only regional airlines to operate narrow body cargo aircraft and will continue to pursue additional cargo opportunities. We announced our LOI with Gramercy Associates to begin regional jet operations in Europe, with some of our surplus CRJ-900s. Gramercy is a private company, founded by Tony Davis. Tony is the former CEO of Tiger Airlines in Singapore and Australia and bmibaby. He is also the former COO of Irelandia Aviation. Importantly, we are making significant strides in our adoption of new technology and decarbonization of air travel. This quarter we announced our investment in Archer Aviation's eVTOL aircraft alongside United Airlines. In the transaction, Mesa United receive equity in Archer Aviation in the form of warrants and will purchase up to 200, that’s 160 for United and 40 for Mesa subject to certain conditions. During the quarter, Mesa recorded initial 40% vesting awards at $16.3 million. So, it may seem cutting edge, we are essentially going back to our roots, operating smaller, efficient aircraft. We are excited to be at the forefront of this eVTOL technology, continue to pursue other opportunities in the area of sustainability and eco-friendly flying. We are also proud to be named to the Forbes List of America's Best Mid-Sized Employees for 2021. Our relationship with our employees is of critical importance to us and we're pleased to see our efforts recognized. Once again, I'd like to thank all of our people for making this possible. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brad Rich, our Chief Operating Officer to give you an update on our level of operations as well as our American United and DHL operational performance. Brad, thank you.