Cargojet Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Cargojet EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$0.60
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Cargojet Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $254.70 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Cargojet Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 5/4/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:30AM ET

Cargojet (TSE:CJT) Inc operates a domestic air cargo co-load network between sixteen major Canadian cities. The company provides dedicated aircraft to customers on an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance basis, operating between points in Canada, USA, Mexico and Europe. The company also operates scheduled international routes for multiple cargo customers between the USA and Bermuda, between Canada, UK and Germany; and between Canada and Mexico.

Cargojet Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Cargojet reported resilient Q1 results with CAD 254.7 million revenue (+2% YoY), Adjusted EBITDA CAD 81.9 million, and strong Free Cash Flow (CAD 87.4M; CAD 25.3M ex-aircraft proceeds), reducing Net Debt to CAD 915.2 million and Net Debt/Adjusted EBITDA to 2.8x, on track toward the <2.5x target.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational execution remained strong — 99.2% on-time performance — with domestic network revenues stable (CAD 104.8M), charters up 26% (CAD 58.1M), Liege outperforming, and the MD-11 grounding creating incremental lift demand they are selectively capturing through at least Q3.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical disruption (Iran/Middle East) materially raised fuel prices and reduced global belly capacity; Cargojet uses a fuel-surcharge mechanism with roughly a one-month lag so costs are largely passed through, but elevated fuel volatility could cause transient P&L and visibility risks (notably into Q2).
• Positive Sentiment: Capital and fleet strategy remains disciplined — completed sale of two non-standard Pratt & Whitney aircraft, pursuing opportunistic sale‑leasebacks (potentially one more this year), targeting a 42-aircraft fleet by year-end, while prioritizing dividend growth, accretive growth, NCIB repurchases and lower leverage.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the Cargojet first quarter financial results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to David Tomljenovic. Please go ahead.

[David Tomljenovic, VP of Investor Relations at Cargojet]

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 Maini, Vice President of Finance, and Remy Tremblay, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. After opening remarks about the quarter, we will open the call for questions. I would 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. 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 forward-looking information and for reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP income.

[David Tomljenovic, VP of Investor Relations at Cargojet]

I will now turn the call over to Pauline.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I want to take a moment and recognize our Cargojet team. In a highly volatile and uncertain environment, their resilience, their discipline, and their execution continue to set us apart. Their commitment to delivering reliable world-class service is the foundation of our organization. We concluded the first quarter with an on-time performance of 99.2%, a key metric for our customers. The first quarter was shaped by significant global disruption. The conflict in Iran reduced global air cargo capacity and impacted key hubs across the Middle East. At the same time, disruptions to oil supply routes drove a sharp increase in fuel prices, with volatility remaining elevated and visibility limited. Fuel prices have increased materially during the quarter. Importantly, we have a well-established fuel surcharge mechanism in place.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

While there is a small time lag, this structure allows us to recover these increases and remain generally cost-neutral. This is a critical advantage in managing through periods of volatility. In this turbulent environment, we remain vigilant and focused. Our ability to dynamically align our fleet, our operations, and our cost structure with market conditions has allowed us to protect margins while maintaining industry-leading on-time performance. That disciplined approach continues to differentiate Cargojet and positions us to perform consistently through uncertainty. Turning to our business segments. Our core domestic overnight network delivered a strong and stable performance, with revenues in line with the first quarter of last year, despite an unusually strong comparison driven by tariff-related demand pull forward in early 2025. Matching that elevated level reinforces the strength and the resilience of our domestic franchise.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Our hybrid ACMI business performed in line with expectations and reflects a more normalized run rate. We continue to manage this segment on a quarter-by-quarter basis, ensuring we remain agile and responsive to evolving market conditions rather than committing to fixed long-term assumptions. Our charter business continues to be an important strategic growth lever. We are deliberately focused on selective high-value opportunities in underserved and niche markets where our flexibility and operating model provide a clear competitive advantage. A strong example of this is our recent charters to Venezuela for a South American-focused partner, the first by a Canadian carrier in approximately seven years. This demonstrates our ability to access markets and to create value through execution and network reach. The grounding of the MD-11 aircraft has also created incremental demand for lift, and we have been selectively capturing that opportunity.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

We are approaching this by ensuring we remain disciplined and do not overcommit capacity against what is, by nature, a very fluid situation. That said, based on current visibility, regulatory authorities have not identified a clear timeline for the MD-11 fleet to return to service, which continues to support near-term demand for our network as well as charter opportunities. We will continue to leverage this dislocation where it makes strategic and economic sense while maintaining full flexibility in how we deploy our assets. We anticipate our MD-11 flying to continue to at least the third quarter of this year. Our Liège operation continues to perform above expectations, strengthening our European connectivity, enhancing the value of our domestic network through integrated global flows. Overall, we are very pleased with our performance in the first quarter.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

In a challenging and uncertain operating environment, our team executed exceptionally well, maintaining our existing business while continuing to identify and capitalize on new opportunities, which has always been our strength. Looking ahead, while the global trade and geopolitical environment remain unstable, our strategy remains clear. We will continue to operate with discipline, remain focused in how we deploy our assets, and selectively pursue opportunities where we have a structural advantage. Cargojet is built for this kind of environment, and we intend to continue executing from a position of strength. With that, I'll turn the call over to Aaron to review our financial performance.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Thank you, Pauline, and thanks everyone for joining us today. Like Pauline, I'm very pleased with our performance in the first quarter of 2026. Despite challenging operating conditions, the diversity of our revenue streams, our deep customer relationships, and our team's ability to identify and take advantage of opportunities in the market has allowed us to deliver year-over-year revenue growth. At the same time, our relentless focus on cost and operational discipline continues to produce robust Adjusted EBITDA margins. The Cargojet team's consistency in delivering through all types of market and operational conditions is what drives the success of our business, and I echo Pauline in my thanks to all Cargojet employees.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

During the first quarter of 2026, we generated CAD 254.7 million of revenue, up CAD 4.8 million or 2% from the CAD 249.9 million generated in the first quarter of 2025, despite very challenging operating conditions and a tough comparable period in Q1 last year. Our revenue growth, along with our continued focus on cost control and optimization of fleet utilization, led to another strong quarter of Adjusted EBITDA coming in at CAD 81.9 million, up from CAD 80.8 million for the same period in 2025 at a roughly equivalent margin. We also delivered Free Cash Flow of CAD 87.4 million in Q1, or CAD 25.3 million, excluding the previously disclosed receipt of proceeds from aircraft sales during Q4 of 2025.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

A significant improvement from the CAD 45.9 million outflows in Q1 of 2025. I'm very pleased with the resilience of our domestic network revenues, which continue to benefit from growing e-commerce demand across Canada. In the first quarter of 2026, our domestic network generated CAD 104.8 million of revenue in line with the first quarter of 2025, despite the growth and changing market conditions in 2025 that Pauline has already spoken about. During the first quarter of 2026, our hybrid ACMI business generated revenues of CAD 54.2 million, down slightly from the CAD 59.4 million during the same quarter of 2025, but in line with the run rate we generated in the back half of 2025, excluding Q4 peak flying.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

I'd like to remind everyone that during the first quarter of 2025, our hybrid ACMI network had not fully transitioned from longer stage length East-West flying to the current North-South Intra-Americas flying, which is the primary driver of the change in year-over-year revenues. In Q1, we saw the full benefit of the new charter opportunities we discussed on our fourth quarter call. Total charter revenue of CAD 58.1 million was up 26% or CAD 12.1 million from the CAD 46 million generated in the first quarter of 2025 as the basket of new charter opportunities, including the support flying for a long-term partner, our new long-term charter partner serving Central and South America, and our new service to Liège more than outweighed the revenue generated by our Trans-Pacific flying in the same period of 2025.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

The connectivity of our domestic and hybrid ACMI businesses to geographies where we are serving those new charter partners also allows us to manage our fleet efficiently, supporting the robust Adjusted EBITDA margin generated this quarter. The final item I'd like to discuss is our continuing focus on our efficient and disciplined approach to capital. During our year-end conference call, I had shared that subsequent to the year-end, we would receive the proceeds from the disposition and sale of two non-standard Pratt & Whitney powered aircraft from our fleet. I'm happy to report that transaction is now complete.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Those proceeds, combined with our core Free Cash Flow, allowed us to reduce our Net Debt to CAD 915.2 million at the end of the first quarter, a reduction of CAD 72.7 million from the end of 2025, bringing our Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio to 2.8x, well on the path to our long-term target of less than 2.5x. As we've previously noted, our capital allocation priorities continue to be sustained dividend growth, the pursuit of accretive growth opportunities with disciplined capital deployment, opportunistic use of our NCIB, and maintaining our Net Leverage below 2.5x over the long term.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

In Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, we've demonstrated our commitment to those goals by announcing an annual dividend increase along with our Q4 results, using existing capacity to pursue new accretive charter opportunities efficiently linked to our domestic and hybrid ACMI networks, renewing our Normal Course Issuer Bid and executing the repurchase and cancellation of more than 188,000 shares while reducing our net debt towards our long-term target. We expect to continue to focus on those priorities through the remainder of 2026. With that, I'll hand the call back to Pauline.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Thank you, Aaron. Over the past several quarters, we have seen persistently elevated levels of volatility and uncertainty driven by fluid global conditions. As we move through the second quarter, we remain measured in our outlook. That said, as demonstrated in the first quarter, challenging environments also create opportunity. At its core, Cargojet is built for these opportunities. We will continue to actively manage the business with discipline while remaining focused on identifying and capturing opportunities in a dynamic and ever-changing market. Before we open the call for questions, I would like to take a moment and thank our team. The results we are delivering today, operationally and financially, are a direct reflection of their commitment, their resilience, and their professionalism. I'm extremely proud of how our team continues to show up, adapt, and execute at a very high level.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

With that, we'll open the lines for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Your first question comes from Chris Murray from ATB. Please go ahead.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Yeah, thanks, folks. Just, I mean, starting a little bit with the announcement from Amazon yesterday about extending their logistics network to other customers. I know in Canada, you know, you have a pretty sizable and dominant position, and Amazon's a pretty big partner. I guess two parts of this. One, does that impact you at all with that announcement? Then second, you know, on a more broader basis, can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in terms of growth in that domestic market from perhaps other folks who don't have as evolved an e-commerce platform? I know there's been some discussions in the past with perhaps other retailers or other vendors about bringing them into the network more, perhaps more directly.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Any idea about how we should be thinking about growth in domestic over the next year, would be great.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, we're experiencing some technical difficulties. Please remain on the line. Thank you. Chris Murray, if you wouldn't mind repeating your question, please. The speaker is now back with us. Thank you.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Okay, great. Thank you, folks. The question I had was about Amazon's announcement yesterday, extending their logistics network to other customers. In Canada, you have a pretty sizable and dominant position, and Amazon's a pretty big partner. Two parts to this question. First, does that impact you with this announcement? Second, on a broader basis, can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing about growth in the domestic market from perhaps other companies who may be looking to build a more developed e-commerce platform, looking for distribution? I know there's been some discussions in the past with other retailers or other vendors about bringing them into the network, perhaps more directly.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Any color on what that looks like over the next year and how you think the domestic business evolves or even longer term would be helpful.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Hi, Chris. It's Ajay. I'll take that question. First of all, Amazon announced this entering into the logistics arena. I think that their goal primarily from what we can see and what we've been told is to put some freight on their network, so it lowers their network cost. Whether they become a real operator and real integrator, that remains to be seen because as you can see, UPS and FedEx have billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure, tracing, tracking, service, pickup, delivery. I don't know if Amazon has reached that level, but obviously with their size and resource, they can if they want to. From what we see in the marketplace, they're not ready yet.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

The second part of it is, whether if they do become, let's say in Canada, a parallel to UPS and FedEx, keep in mind they are on our network. If they were gonna take any business from anywhere, it comes back to our network. We don't impact, and we have a long-term contract with Amazon that with certain provisions, which I'm not able to disclose, that that activity can be limited in Canada. Secondly, anything that moves off Cargojet network from container A, it'll go to container B. We don't see that as a net negative to us in any which way. Third thing, domestic outlooks look strong. It's, We're growing on the domestic side in spite of all the geopolitical and other disturbances we have in the marketplace.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

As you noticed, we recently announced that we're gonna invest and spend more money and time onto the domestic network, strengthening it more, instead of cross-border. I think that we find the domestic business here to be the one that is consistent growth and also easier for us to manage. It's in our backyard. I hope that clarifies any Amazon issues that you might have.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

No, that's helpful. Thank you. The other question, maybe this one's for Aaron, but just kind of broadly, I know you had the sale of the two aircraft last year, but you also talked a little bit about wanting to look at your mix of leased aircraft versus owned aircraft, to the idea of maybe call it right-sizing the balance sheet, maybe doing some more sale and leaseback transactions and, you know, you mentioned your goal of trying to get down below 2.5x leverage, which I think maybe perhaps opens up other opportunities.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts around additional transactions, what's available to you in the marketplace right now, and how we should be thinking about cash flow over the balance of the year, either with those transactions and any updates on CapEx would be helpful?

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, please remain on the line. Once again, we have another speaker. We'll take a few moments. Thank you. Okay, we have the speaker back. Chris, if you don't mind repeating your last question, please. Thank you.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Yeah, sure. Again, probably more for Aaron, just looking at the transactions that you did last year on the sale of the aircraft, you had talked previously about maybe looking at the mix of owned versus leased aircraft on the balance sheet, with the opportunity to maybe free up or manage some capital. I'm just wondering, you know, any thoughts around, you know, additional transactions this year and how that would impact Free Cash Flow? Any thoughts around CapEx for the year that goes into that calculation would be helpful as well.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I think what we've been saying, and we'll continue to say, is from the perspective of looking at sale leasebacks, we are looking at the transactions opportunistically. I wouldn't say we have a set program of going out and pursuing sale leasebacks. Where we can get attractive deals that will lower our overall cost of capital and are accretive to the business, we will certainly take a hard look at them. I think, you know, there's certainly potential for you to see at least maybe one more of those deals at this year. I think from a Free Cash Flow point of view, you'd certainly see us show that as a net cash inflow in Free Cash Flow.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

From a Net Debt perspective, I mean, the lease liability goes on the balance sheet. It really depends on the transaction terms on what your inflow is versus that lease liability. Generally, it's not gonna have a major impact on Net Debt directly.

[Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets]

Okay. That's, that's helpful. Thank you. I'll leave it there.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Kevin Chiang from CIBC. Please go ahead.

[Kevin Chiang, Analyst at CIBC]

Hey, thanks for taking my question. Maybe just wondering what impact, if any, did the fuel lag have in Q1 on your earnings? Believe your domestic revenue segment typically sees about a two-month lag in terms of recovery.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Yeah. We think of it, Kevin, more as a one-month lag. I think it's a little tighter than that.

[Kevin Chiang, Analyst at CIBC]

Okay.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Fuel prices really started to come up right towards the end of Q1, so the impact wasn't as great in Q1 as you might end up seeing in Q2. For us, fuel is obviously largely the pass-through after that bit of lag. You probably didn't see an overall material impact in Q1. We obviously put a fuel surcharge in place fairly quickly, so I think we'll expect more of that in Q2.

[Kevin Chiang, Analyst at CIBC]

Okay. That's helpful. Just maybe my second question. I noticed your receivables ticked up here in Q1, and if I look at your receivables turnover, maybe a little bit lower than we've typically seen. Just anything we should be thinking about on the receivables front for the remainder of the year, maybe as a working capital tailwind as you unwind this receivables number?

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Yeah. I think you'll see it, you'll see it stay up a little bit through the year. Some of the new business we're doing, has a little bit of a longer receivable timeline. Some of that also we had recoveries of insurance proceeds that I think if you look at the subsequent events, you'll see we received some of that after Q1.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

It's just a timing difference.

[Kevin Chiang, Analyst at CIBC]

Yep. Yep. That's, that's helpful. That's it for me. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Konark Gupta from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Thanks. Morning, everyone. Maybe first on the hybrid, sorry, hybrid ACMI. I think the point you guys tried to make initially in the remarks is, you know, last year you probably hadn't seen the full transition from longer stage length to the shorter stage length. Would you say Q1 of this year is actually reflective of all the changes that have taken place in that business? I mean, this is the sort of bottoming or troughing in that market because seems like the revenue is at a low point compared to what you had in 2022 maybe. Yeah, any thoughts on ACMI? Where does it trend from here? Is it the bottom, or you might still see some downward shifts in the next few quarters?

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Konark, I'll take that. It's Ajay. ACMI is pretty solid. The number of planes committed are the number of planes, so we don't see anything going down. Hours shift sometimes because, for example, they might not wanna fly to Bogota because there's more demand to Venezuela, so there might be a couple of hours difference here and there. That's the flexibility we offer our customers. We don't see that we're gonna lose any aircraft unless the total trade is dead and the geopolitical and tariffs and war situations are so bad that everything is shut down. We don't anticipate that. Again, everybody's your guess is as good as mine on that issue.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

As far as the hybrid ACMI is concerned, what Pauline did was implemented a model, where we were not able to use a lot of ACMI planes for our own charters. Right now, our agreement now allows us the flexibility with DHL to use any ACMI planes that we have as long as they are available, and we can do it within the rest period of the plane. The maintenance is not affected. Many factors go into it. The bottom line is that, 12 or 13 aircraft that we fly.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

13.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

for DHL today, they're available at least three days a week to us to look for charter opportunities. That change and model will increase our crew utilization, it'll increase our aircraft utilization, we have started to market some of that product. We have seen some small successes, again, this is just a work in progress that we started. We'll see some more results as the year goes by.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. No, that's very good color, Ajay. Thanks. On MD-11s, I wanted to understand, you know, the opportunity set here. It seems like, you know, the grounding is still on. I think one carrier, Dole, recently announced that they might look to unground some planes because it's costing them a lot of money and all that. What are you hearing from your customers on MD-11 side of things? I mean.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah, Konark,

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Q3 Yeah, go ahead, sorry.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

I'll take that one. Regulatory authorities have not permitted the MD-11 flying again. We will take our guidance from FAA and Boeing. While we are hearing some noise that an integrator is gonna bring them back online and use them in their network, we have not been officially given that green light, nor has the industry. In my opening remarks, I did state the customer that we are operating our assets for, we will continue to do so until the end of Q3. That's the commitment that we have. That customer has officially come out and said that they will not bring the MD-11s back into their fleet.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Thank you. Last one from me on the Iran War and the Middle East conflicts, I guess, as a whole. I mean, sounds like the global air cargo capacity that's impacted by Iran situation is about 5% or something. That's meaningful. What are you seeing from your customer base in terms of opportunities maybe? I mean, like, I understand obviously the risks are evident from fuel and whatnot, but what could be the potential opportunity here for you guys? Would that be more on the ACMI side or charters?

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Well, the opportunities that we are seeing, Konark, are getting inquiries and that we are mulling over are opportunities from Europe to Asia, Europe to India.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Europe to Africa.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Europe to Africa. There's some active quotations and active discussions going on. Again, our model is that we don't want to get into a commercial risk. On handling this, these shipments, we like to work on ACMI or a charter model, which our base risk is protected. If there is some upside, we can handle that or small downside, but we like to cover most of our risk. You can call it ACMI, you can call it charter. At the end of the day, we have to be risk-free on fuel. We have to be risk-free on filling the plane.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Just to Ajay's point, we wanna make sure that we're safe. You know, it's opportunities like these that we continue to monitor as they come available. We continue to have dialogues. The world has gotten smaller since the war, and Cargojet is very well-positioned with our weekly flights into Liège to carry those flights forward, as Ajay said, to India, to Africa, or to anywhere that we see an ACMI opportunity or a charter opportunity.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. No, that's it for me. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Cameron Doerksen from National Bank. Please go ahead.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Yeah, thanks. good morning. I just wanted to quickly follow up on the fuel lag question. You mentioned kind of minimal impact in Q1. Just wondering what we might expect in Q2, I guess from a bottom line perspective. Let's assume that the fuel price kind of stays steady through Q2. Obviously you'd have higher fuel surcharge revenue coming in, and I, I presume with the one-month lag would be pretty much that would fully offset the cost impact. Just wanna make sure there was no surprises, I guess, on the bottom line in Q2 from any transient fuel issues.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

No, I think you're thinking about it correctly, Cameron. I think you'll have that one-month lag, but otherwise it's generally a pass-through for us.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. Okay, that's good. My main question, I just wanna better understand how the new charter work that you're doing to the South and Central America is evolving. Has the volume of work changed at all since you first talked about it earlier in Q1? You know, is there any seasonality to that business that we should expect over the coming quarters?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah. We've added Venezuela to that, as I spoke about in my opening remarks. Venezuela is a new additional route. We are operating two flights a week into Venezuela for that customer. Everything is moving as it should be. We're very pleased with that routing. We're having a lot of other customers also reach out. It's a new market. It's a market that Canada or Canadian operators haven't flown into since 2019. It's lending to be a strategic opportunity for Cargojet.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. Just I guess broadly on that customer and then that, you know, those markets, I mean, is there any seasonality I guess we should expect through the year, or is it pretty steady quarter to quarter?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

It's pretty steady quarter to quarter.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. Perfect. I'll pass the line. Thanks very much.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Daryl Young from Stifel. Please go ahead.

[Daryl Young, Analyst at Stifel]

Hey, good morning, everyone.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Good morning.

[Daryl Young, Analyst at Stifel]

I wanted to touch on the domestic network. It sounds like the outlook's still quite strong. With some of the consumer sensitivities that are starting to be talked about, how are you thinking about your exposure there? I think in the past you've talked about structural e-commerce trends maybe being more important than short-term consumer sensitivity. Is that thinking changed at all, or how should we think about that?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

No, I think April's trending to be a strong month. I think that, you're gonna continue to see e-commerce growth in this country. Canada lagged the rest of the world when it came to e-commerce. While you do see increasing fuel prices and maybe consumers moving away from restaurants or travel, the shift has come to buying patterns where consumers are now buying online. Shopping has changed. We don't anticipate, nor have we seen, any slowdown in the domestic overnight, consumer demand.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Just to add to it, you know, when shifts like these happen, we have seen that before, people are not gonna stop buying. Instead of a CAD 100 pair of shoe, you might buy a CAD 50 pair of shoe. You know, instead of stocking 10 of toothbrushes, you might just keep two. You know, the shipments continue on. Maybe the value of the shipments is less, maybe slightly the weight might vary. There'll be more frequent smaller shipments than bigger shipments. All these trends we have experienced from COVID on or even before that when the economies go down or when there is some doubt, but don't see the change in for us. It might be a value of the shipment that's not gonna impact us.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

That's the trend we have always seen in these situations.

[Daryl Young, Analyst at Stifel]

Got it. That is helpful. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Walter Spracklin from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Morning, Walter.

[Walter Spracklin, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Good morning. I just wanna have a question on capacity and where you sit, perhaps, you know, if we do get a little bit of an uptick in volume. There's talk of the freight recession coming to an end among your trucking peers, even some of your railroad peers. If we do see some of that lift as the year plays out, where do you have capacity? Maybe touch on domestic, you know, mainly in your domestic and how does that look outside of your domestic in the charter and ACMI as well?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah. Thanks, Walter. You know, one thing that we've gotten better with is the utilization of our aircraft. We now consider ourselves as having a one aircraft market, which allows us to deploy our assets from whether they're in Miami or whether they're in Liège , to better capture markets. We are interchanging aircraft here on the domestic network. We are looking at incremental revenue opportunities through our existing fleet. We feel we have enough capacity. We're confident that we do, and we have the ability to flex that utilization as needed on demand lanes. We're confident we have the right fleet with the right ability to handle any growth that we see in the next year.

[Walter Spracklin, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Fantastic. Just getting a run rate because you're all in charter. Obviously, you're having some great success there. It's up 26%. I know there's seasonality, inter-quarter seasonality in that number as well. Is that, is that something we see tick down quarter sequential as it has in the past, or is this a new kind of run rate that we build on from here through the course of the year? Just wanna model correctly the kind of all-in charter revenue given the, some of the opportunities that you've executed on in that segment.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

No, Walter, we don't see any changes there.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

I think too, Walter.

[Walter Spracklin, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

So-

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Pauline's earlier point, you know, some of the new charter partners maybe have a little less seasonality to them. This basket of new opportunities is, I would say, more of a steady through the year versus seasonal.

[Walter Spracklin, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Got it. Okay, perfect. That's all my questions. Thanks very much.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Steve Hansen from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

Yeah, guys, thanks for the time. I'm gonna dovetail on the previous comment and just look a little bit further out. I mean, it sounds like to me you almost have more opportunities than you can perhaps satisfy. Capacity is, of course, limited to some degree. I mean, as we think about the balance of this year for charter specifically, can we expect that to grow through the year and put up numbers that are, you know, again, maybe not as high as the first quarter growth rate, but you've got the comps actually ease here through the year. I'm trying to understand how the growth profile is gonna look for charter through the year. Thanks.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah. It's a great question. We continue to look at new markets. We're looking to expand. We were going to go into Tel Aviv in April of this year. Unfortunately, with the situation globally, we had to pull that back. We feel that we have the right fleet. It's the utilization of the aircraft. To Ajay's point earlier, we were dedicating assets to DHL. We are now using those assets when it's not operating the DHL network to deploy and capture any charter opportunities that are available to us. Do we see charter opportunities? Absolutely. Are we aligned to service those with our current fleet? Absolutely. We just have to utilize the aircraft better and strategize our routes and our lanes and look for opportunities.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

Okay, great. Just one last one, as I know you've already discussed the ACMI sort of entering sort of a new sort of level here. Is there any indications at all yet, just given the global situation that you have opportunities to start re-increasing stage length yet, or is this still too early for that?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

I think it's still too early for that. You know, with that particular customer, we're still flying the same number of aircraft. It's just that we're not flying Trans-Pacific and Transatlantic as we've previously done so, primarily because of the tariffs and the uncertainty in the geopolitical climate.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

Okay, very good. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Tim James from TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Good morning, everyone. My first question, I just want to tie back into the last discussion there related to DHL and the ACMI flying. You've outlined some adjustments, I guess, to the approach with DHL, where it frees up or gives you aircraft availability to deploy in other places. Can you kind of reconcile that to the sort of August announcement of last year about the, you know, where you renewed the DHL agreement? It was sort of implied an upside in or an upsize in terms of revenue. I mean, are these changes that you're talking about sort of revisions or adjustments to that agreement as it was announced last year, or was this all embedded in that original sort of renewal that was disclosed last year?

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Yeah. Hi, Tim. It's Ajay. That agreement was on its own. That's got nothing to do with the changes. Times have changed. Asset utilization is where it is. If you don't utilize the assets that are sitting there, you know, it's a shame on everybody. We've been trying for a while to convince DHL that, look, if we were to fly these assets more, it'll generate more revenue, and we can share some of that additional revenue with them rather than the plane sitting. The concern is you can fly the planes when they're not flying for DHL, but the service to them is very, very critical.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

What we are working on is placing a spare in Cincinnati and Miami hubs, if we can, you know, find the right equipment to do that, but also step up the maintenance so that Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and even Mondays, these planes are available to us for charters. This is not a part of the original agreement. This is a tweak that was initiated by the team here a couple of months ago. We have just finalized that. In principle, we could use it whenever there is a charter opportunity. This is an add-on. Again, when the planes are sitting on ground, they're not making any money, but if they're flying, they will. DHL, if any partner, they recognize the most because they're in the same business.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

You know, we haven't finalized the exact numbers yet, but they will get some portion of our revenue if we generate revenue. It'll be a win-win situation for both parties.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That's really helpful. Thank you, Ajay. My second question, it was Pauline, you were commenting earlier about the global uncertainty, you know, the geopolitical uncertainty, et cetera, that is impacting the industry. Could you just talk through how it's impacting your business? Or maybe the question should be, is it? You know, I look at the results and I almost struggle a little bit to sort of draw a direct line and say it's having a negative impact here. I'm just wondering if you could tell us if that's like an observation about the world around you, but you're very well insulated, or are there little places where you're feeling it?

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah. You know, Tim, I think if we're facing it anywhere, it's not on the domestic overnight. Just to my comments earlier, the domestic continues to grow. We've had a strong April. Consumer demand, to what Ajay was stating, hasn't really changed. Whether they buy a CAD 100 or a CAD 50 item, they're still shipping it. Canada was way behind on e-commerce, and we're catching up to the rest of the world. Retailers are closing, and if they are open, they aren't carrying the inventories that warehouses are carrying. We're seeing the domestic overnight still performing well. Where we've seen a lag is the ACMI business, where we were doing additional flying on top of the minimums for our ACMI customer. We've seen that decline.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Having us shift over to looking at different opportunities to use those assets when the customer schedules allow us to. We're seeing a little dip there. You know, we've also brought the charter business sort of back into the North American and South American flying. You saw that in the increase in the charter business. It is something we continue to focus on. I think our shift is really focused on the utilization of the assets no matter where the assets sit, and continue to explore opportunities outside of the Canadian domestic marketplace.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Benoit Poirier from Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Yeah. Good morning, everyone. First question, we are seeing a capacity reduction from overall airline because of higher fuel expense. A lot of airlines came down. I just suspect that capacity from passenger belly might come down. Just wondering whether it bring new opportunities or new discussion for you. Maybe not to the magnitude that we saw during COVID, but maybe whether it provides a little tailwind for you.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

At this point, you know, we're just in all those conversations. We're looking at routes. That's why Tel Aviv was interesting for us. We were activated and move into that market at the beginning of April, but due to the war, due to the Middle East crisis, we pulled back. Venezuela was a new opportunity for us. We moved into that market. It's, it's proving to be a successful route for us. Liège was another opportunity that we did a sort of a research and development in November to see what opportunities existed and if those would sustain. We're very pleased with the decisions and the chances that we've taken to the markets that we are moving into.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

We'll continue to explore underserved markets and look at niche opportunities that best fit for Cargojet, just not in the short term, but for longer strategic growth.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

As I added, if you recall a few minutes ago, I said we're looking at opportunities in India and Africa, some of those countries are at the reason because some of those flights have been reduced to those countries because of the Middle East conflict. Those are the ones in consideration to replace some passenger lift.

[Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Okay. That's interesting. Maybe, Pauline, to come back to the domestic business that you see growth in April. I was just wondering how would you qualify a Q2 2025? I know that Q1 was very strong a year ago. You got some pull forward in demand. I was just wondering whether Q2 2025 was also a strong quarter. Was there some pull forward in demand, or we could see a higher growth in Q2 this year?

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

I think if you look back at last year, Benoit, both Q1 and Q2 had pretty significant year-over-year revenue growth versus 2024. I think you saw that demand pull forward as the new U.S. administration started talking about tariffs. That kind of happened in late Q1, early Q2. I think that pull forward impact is in both quarters.

[Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Okay. Maybe any potential opportunities around the restructuring with Canada Post or basically a neutral as it could move from container A to container B?

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Yes, exactly. That's container A to container B story.

[Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Okay, that's great. Last one for me. Could you maybe provide an update on the upcoming pilot agreements that is will be up for renewal?

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

Yes. We are in active negotiations with the pilots. We are progressing. We have made a lot of progress. There's a number of areas still need to be done. We got a couple of months to get those done. We have regular meetings with the leadership at Pilots Union. We have an extremely cordial and good relations. We expect that by the end of June or beginning of July to have something in place. That's our wish. The Pilots Union also want to see something done quickly. I think it's moving quite smoothly at this stage, I would say, but you never know with these things. At this stage, I don't expect any kind of turbulence because I think at the end of the day, everybody understands the market conditions.

[Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman at Cargojet]

We understand what we have to do. They understand what they have to do. At this stage, there's no concerns. There are no red flags that we can see. We're very happy with the progress we are making.

[Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Great. Thank you very much for the time.

[Operator]

Our last question for today comes from Razi Hasan from Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe for Aaron, just on gross margin, you know, lower year-over-year and sequentially, could you maybe just walk us through how gross margins should be looked at for the remainder of the year?

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Yeah. There's a couple of things that you're seeing in the gross margin, the fixed cost generally, and I'll expand the comment outside of that as well. There's a couple of items in gross margin that are non-cash, that are more fixed in nature. They don't really vary directly with revenue, and I'm thinking of heavy maintenance amortization and depreciation in particular. Those are more based on the timing of CapEx and with sort of the elevated CapEx last year, you're seeing those higher. Again, they're non-cash and a little more fixed in nature. The other thing you're seeing going on in Q1 is in things like crew cost.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

If you look back at Q1 2025, any line in our financial statements that was linked to our stock price, so stock-based comp for pilots in the crew cost, stock-based comp in SG&A, as well as the below-the-line stock warrant item, you'll see all of those have a large credit or a large recovery last year as our stock price changed by about 30% through Q1 2025. Some of that is really just a year-over-year comparable, where you're seeing a large credit in some of those costs last year that didn't exist this year.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Okay. That's helpful. Maybe just lastly, just in terms of the number of aircraft you're seeing or expecting by the end of the year, can you just comment? You're at 40 now. Where will you be at the end of the year?

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

We had 42 in the MD&A. I mean, we're at 40 at Q1. That's a bit of a tight number. We actually took delivery. We had previously said we'll take delivery of two aircraft this year. We took delivery of one just before the end of Q1, but it wasn't into service. We have to run a number of entry into service processes from a maintenance point of view and painting the aircraft, et cetera. The aircraft was actually in paint at the end of Q1, so it's in service now. That is one. There's one more aircraft to come later in the year.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

We'll be up to 42 by the end of the year.

[Aaron McKay, CFO at Cargojet]

Yeah.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Yeah. That's perfect. Thanks very much.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Thank you.

[Operator]

I will turn the call back over to Pauline Dhillon for closing remarks.

[Pauline Dhillon, CEO at Cargojet]

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks again, everyone, for joining us today. We have the one-on-one calls and we'll be attending those. We just wanna extend our gratitude again for you taking the time to participate in our earnings call. Have a good day. Stay safe, everyone.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Aaron McKay, CFO
• Ajay Virmani, Executive Chairman
• David Tomljenovic, VP of Investor Relations
• Pauline Dhillon, CEO

Analysts

• Benoit Poirier, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets
• Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank
• Chris Murray, Analyst at ATB Capital Markets
• Daryl Young, Analyst at Stifel
• Kevin Chiang, Analyst at CIBC
• Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank
• Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital
• Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James
• Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen
• Walter Spracklin, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets