“In the [second] quarter, our team delivered higher revenue, earnings per share, and cash flow,” said Scott C. Donnell, chairman and CEO, Textron. “At Aviation and Bell, we continued to execute on key programs, including the Citation Ascend and FLRAA.”

The YoY $113m increase in revenue came from higher pricing of $57m and higher volume and mix of $56m.

Textron Aviation delivered 42 jets in the quarter, down from 44 in the second quarter of 2023, and 44 commercial turboprops, up from 37 in last year’s second quarter.

On the bottom line, the aviation segment’s profits increased to $195m, up $24m from same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, the company’s backlog at the end of the second quarter was $7.5bn slightly higher than $7.3bn at the end of first quarter 2024.

Overall, Textron’s second quarter revenue increased by 3%YoY to $3.5bn attributable to growth in Aviation, Bell and Systems segments which offset the decline in revenues from Industrial and eAviation segments.

Despite higher topline, the company’s net income declined during the quarter under review to $259m in the second quarter from $263m from last year. The company booked special charges of $13m, which the company said was due to “headcount reductions in the Industrial, Textron Systems and Bell segments.”

This translated in to earnings of $1.35 per share, as compared to $1.30 in the second quarter of 2023.

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The stock rose from $78.96 at the close on Tuesday to $90.62 by end of trading day on Wednesday – intraday gain of 14.7%.

“Bombardier (BBD.A:CA) has navigated its way through a turbulent turn-around,” according to BofA analyst Ronald Epstein. “Following the peak of post-covid BizJet demand, BizJet aviation activity remains above 2019 levels, which we see as supporting Bombardier’s near-term strategy.”

BofA analysts believe the Canadian aircraft manufacturer is well-positioned for growth due to sustained demand for business jets.

Bombardier’s focus on its existing customer base, aftermarket parts and maintenance sales, and disciplined use of capital creates potential upside for investors, according to Bank of America.

The bank significantly increased its price target on Bombardier to C$120 per share, a substantial jump from their prior target of C$52 per share.

The company also announced that it has priced its offering of $750m aggregate principal amount of new senior notes due June 1, 2032. The notes will carry a coupon of 7.000% per annum and will be sold at par.

The company added, the issuance of the new notes is expected to close on or about June 5.

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The company’s Software App and Cirrus Aviation Charter revenue, which includes bookings made through their CharterGPT app and Cirrus Aviation, jumped to $2.4m, a significant increase from $1.0m in Q1 2023. This increase reflects a more than 200% rise in bookings through CharterGPT and increased utilisation of their Citation CJ4 managed aircraft.

Moreover, management and other services revenue, including income from managing and chartering customer aircraft, also saw a substantial rise, reaching $800,000 compared to $334,000 in the same period last year.

Jet Card and Fractional Programs revenue grew slightly to $677,000 from $548,000 year-over-year.

On the other hand, Jet.AI’s cost of revenue doubled to $4m from $2m in Q1 2023. This rise is primarily due to increased fleet utilisation, use of third-party charters, and fees associated with charter flights.

On the bottom line, the company posted a net loss of $3.2m translating into diluted earnings per share of -$0.28.

However, the company’s cash and cash equivalents during the first quarter decreased by $1.5m of $0.6m compared to end of 2023.

During the quarter under review, the company released the National Jet Card Program using third party aircraft and announced partnership with FL3XX to integrate its DynoFlight carbon removal platform.

In addition, the company also raised a $16.5m convertible preferred from Ionic Ventures LLC.

“Last quarter we doubled sales year over year and substantially improved bottom line margin, up 17% points adjusted for option expense. In addition, we closed on the $16.5m sale of convertible preferred shares to Ionic Ventures LLC, with the goal of positioning the company well financially for the foreseeable future,” said Mike Winston, executive chairman and founder, Jet.AI.

“On the software side, we launched Reroute AI for operators and did a key integration deal for DynoFlight with a major software provider to the private jet industry (FL3XX). Challenger 3500 fleet financing conversations remain ongoing.

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The company did not book any revenue from aircraft sales owing to push back in delivery dates by OEMs due to supply chain challenges.

However, the company saw strong growth of 72% year-over-year in aircraft usage revenue reaching $11.5m from $6.7m in the corresponding period last year. This was due to 39% growth in flight hours and 7%YoY increase in blended yield. In addition, the company achieved demand mix of 50% owner and 50% program & ad hoc in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, revenue from the managed aircraft segment nearly halved to $1.7m from $3.3m a year ago.

Overall, the company’s first quarter revenue stood at $13.2m, down 16%YoY from $15.7m.

“While OEM aircraft delivery delays put pressure on our revenue in the first quarter, we achieved strong year-over-year growth across our key metrics as we executed on our strategy to drive more favorable demand mix and higher yield per flight hour,” said Matt Liotta, co-founder and CEO, Volato.

In terms of expenses, the company’s cost of services remained relatively stable at $17.5m from a year ago while the first quarter SG&A expenses witnessed a sharp uptick of 89%YoY to $11.7m from $6.2m in Q1 23.  

Volato ended the quarter with $6.4m of cash, and cash equivalents.

The company said it is optimistic on deliveries in the second quarter. “Given the well-known OEM supply chain challenges which have pushed back delivery dates, we continue to expect the delivery of 8 to 10 HondaJets but now expect delivery of two Gulfstream G280s in 2024 [instead of four announced earlier]. These deliveries, including 2-3 HondaJets which we are scheduled to receive in the second quarter, will provide us with an immediate cash benefit as we execute on our backlog of fractional sales,” said CEO Liotta.

Subsequent to quarter end, Volato also signed a term sheet for $14.5m in financing, including a $13.0m financing to unlock deposits for its Gulfstream G280 orders and a $1.5m equity commitment.

“Our aircraft deliveries in 2024 will provide additional cash as well as more capacity to grow our network and better leverage our cost base. With an expected revenue of over $120m this year from fractional sales alone, continued revenue growth from aircraft usage and our cost-savings measures, we expect that we can achieve positive gross margin and EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2024,” said the company’s CFO Mark Heinen.

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The decrease in revenue was primarily driven by the exit from the aircraft management and aircraft sales businesses, as well as reduced membership and flight revenue.

Active Members decreased by 25%YoY to 9,155, a result of the regionalisation of member programs and a focus on profitable flying.

This member decline also led to a decrease in active users to 10,218, a 23%YoY drop from 13,336 users in the same period last year.

Live flight legs and total private jet flight transaction value decreased 24% and 26%, respectively to 11,754 and $191,763.

However, the total private jet flight transaction value per live flight leg remained relatively stable, decreasing only 3% year-over-year to $16,315 compared to $16,772 in the same period last year.

At the bottom line, Wheels Up’s net loss improved slightly year-over-year to $97.4m translating into loss per share of $0.14.

Despite the decline in revenue, Wheels Up highlighted strong operational performance, exceeding internal goals with a 98% completion rate and 87% on-time performance (D-60) for flights. The company also announced its plans to open a new flagship maintenance facility at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and the appointment of David Harvey as chief commercial officer.

“Wheels Up has made great strides to improve our operations and consistently deliver exceptional service and an experience worth repeating for our customers,” said George Mattson, Chief Executive Officer.

“Our strong operational performance provides the foundation for driving to profitable growth. I am pleased with the market interest in the accessibility and flexibility of our offerings, and we are seeing accelerating commercial momentum through our strategic partnership with Delta Air Lines.”

“Despite slower demand in January and February, we saw sequential improvement in March that is following through into the second quarter,” said Todd Smith, Chief Financial Officer.

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Service revenue hit a record high of $81.7m, reflecting a 4% growth. Equipment sales also rose 13% to $22.6m.

“Our first quarter performance was fuelled by advanced equipment revenue, which experienced a rebound from Q4 2023 and record service revenue, driven by a modest price increase and record advanced upgrades,” said Oakleigh Thorne, CEO and board chairman, Gogo Aviation in the earnings call.

Gogo is expanding its reach, with shipments of their AVANCE equipment up 16% year-over-year to 258 units. The total number of ATG aircraft online also grew slightly, reaching 7,136. Engagement with these connected aircraft remained strong, with average monthly revenue per aircraft (ARPU) rising 2% to $3,458.

Impressive financial performance wasn’t limited to the top line. Gogo’s net income surged 49% year-over-year to $30.5m, translating to diluted earnings per share of $0.23.

This strong bottom line led to a healthy cash flow position. Gogo boasted record free cash flow of $32.1m in Q1, a significant jump from the prior year’s $20.0m. The company ended the quarter with a solid cash and cash equivalents position of $152.8m.

Gearing up for their highly anticipated Gogo Galileo launch later this year, the company said it secured a key regulatory win in April 2024. The FCC granted approval for the Gogo Galileo HDX and FDX antenna terminals designed for business aircraft.

Additionally, the company said its Atlas Air Service AG is underway developing the first European Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the Galileo HDX antenna for the Cessna CJ Series of light jet aircraft and another STC for the Embraer Phenom 300.

“We’re excited about the upcoming launches of Gogo Galileo and Gogo 5G, which will substantially increase our global addressable market and provide our customers with a step-change improvement in speed and performance,” added Thorne. “Additionally, our accelerating conversion of customers from our old Classic products to the AVANCE platform will allow customers to benefit from better LTE performance and provides a simple and cost-effective upgrade path to Galileo and 5G.”

The company also updated on its progress regarding the ongoing share repurchase. In Q1 of 2024, it repurchased 1.1m shares for $10.1m. This buyback activity adds to the over 1.6m shares repurchased in the past two quarters, totalling $15m.

In April 2024, they continued this trend with an additional 1.1m share buyback for $9.3m.

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Topline growth came on the back of record first quarter executive jet deliveries of 18 jets compared to eight in the same period last year.

The company delivered one Phenom 100 and 10 Phenom 300s, while delivering three Praetor 500s and four Praetor 600s in the first quarter of 2024 – most aircraft it has delivered in the first quarter for eight years. In addition to higher deliveries, the company also boasted its executive aviation backlog by $300m to $4.6bn.

Following from better topline, Embraer’s gross margin from the executive aviation segment improved from -0.5% to 21.4% improving the adjusted EBIT margin from -42.9% to 5.0% during the first quarter under review.

Overall, the company’s consolidated revenue in the first quarter of 2024 clocked in at $896.6m an increase of 25% year-over-year. This strong growth came on the back of strong performance in the executive aviation segment.

On the bottom line, the company reported adjusted net loss of $12.8m against $88.9m in the same period last year.

“We currently have concrete sales campaigns for more than 200 aircraft across the world,” said Francisco Gomes Neto, CEO, Embraer in the earnings call. Neto further reaffirmed the 2024 guidance of 72 to 80 commercial and 125 to 135 executive jet deliveries, with total revenue target of $6-8bn.

Beyond the results, Neto further said the company is focused on its existing portfolio with no plans on developing narrowbody as has been speculated for a while now.

“We are now in our harvest season. We don’t have concrete plans to develop or launch a narrowbody or other aircraft in the next few years,” said Neto in the earnings call.

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FlyExclusive reported total revenue of $315m in 2023, a slight decrease from $320m in 2022. This dip can be attributed to the termination of a revenue-sharing agreement with Wheels Up, another jet charter service. 

Notably, Wheels Up previously accounted for a significant portion nearly 40% of FlyExclusive’s income in 2022. On June 30, 2023, FlyExclusive terminated its agreement with Wheels Up. Following this termination, Wheels Up share in FlyExclusive revenue declined to 22% during FY23.

Beyond the dip in revenue, the company’s total costs and expenses also went up. Cost of revenue, which includes expenses directly associated with operating flights, such as fuel, pilot salaries, landing fees, and aircraft maintenance clocked in at $264.2m in 2023, up from $255.4m in 2022 .

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses also witnessed a significant 40% jump. In 2023, FlyExclusive’s  SG&A expenses increased to $75.4m from $53.8m in 2022. The increase suggests higher marketing and sales efforts in 2023, possibly to offset the loss of revenue from the terminated agreement with Wheels Up.

Meanwhile, depreciation and amortization expenses, increased slightly from $23.1m in 2022 to $26.9m in 2023 .

As of December 31, 2023, the company held approximately $254m in assets. However, a significant portion of this is offset by $193m in long-term debt, primarily related to aircraft purchases.

Meanwhile, cash and cash equivalents were reported at a relatively low $11.6m.

“We currently anticipate that cash required for expenditures for the next 12 months (2024) is approximately $137.6m,” the company said in the financials. During the fiscal year under review, the company reported net decrease in cash and cash equivalents of $11.5m compared to net increase of $2m in 2022.

FlyExclusive share price has plummeted by 77% since March 2024.

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“In the quarter, we saw profit growth across our Aviation, Bell, and Systems businesses,” said Scott C. Donnelly, chairman and CEO, Textron. “At Aviation, we saw continued strong market demand which contributed to $177m in backlog growth. At Bell, we saw revenue growth driven by the FLRAA program.”

The company said that the Textron Aviation’s revenues increased by $39m from last year’s first quarter, reflecting higher pricing of $48m, partially offset by lower volume and mix of $9m.

Meanwhile, Textron Aviation delivered 36 jets in the quarter, up from 35 in the first quarter of 2023, and 20 commercial turboprops, down from 34 in last year’s first quarter.

In terms of profitability, the aviation segment’s profit increased by $18m to $143m during the quarter under review driven by the favourable impact from pricing, net of inflation of $14m.

The segment’s backlog at the end of the first quarter was $7.3bn.

Overall, Textron’s revenue increased by 4%YoY to $3.1bn with a major boost of this coming from the higher sales in aviation and helicopters segment (Bell). This translated in to net income of $1.03 per share, as compared to $0.92 per share in the first quarter of 2023.

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Further revenue breakdown showed contribution of $795m from manufacturing segment, down 22%YoY from $1bn. Bombardier delivered 12 medium and eight large aircraft during the period under review compared to eight and 14 in the same quarter last year.

On the other hand, the company’s first quarter services revenue grew 13%YoY from to $477m from $424m last year.

Despite lower revenue from manufacturing segment, Bombardier’s orders remained strong across the aircraft portfolio, recording a 60% increase to a unit book-to-bill of 1.6. The backlog also increased by $700m to $14.9bn.

“Our team came flying out of the gates in 2024 on soaring aircraft orders and service revenues. The unit book-to-bill of 1.6 and $700m backlog increase are even more meaningful when you take stock of solid activity across traditional customers, fleets and new opportunities materialising for Bombardier Defense,” said Éric Martel, president and CEO, Bombardier.

Lower revenues translated into diluted earnings per share of $1.02 compared to $3.1 in same period last year despite higher adjusted EBIDTA margin of 16% (from 14.6% last year).

The company said that it is making progress on debt reduction with a $100m debt redemption announced on March 14th and closed on April 15th, 2024, using cash from its balance sheet.

Earlier this month, Bombardier announced the successful closing of a new issuance of $750m aggregate principal of Senior Notes due 2031, with a rate of 7.25% per annum and were sold at 99.75% of par. The company plans to use these funds to repay existing outstanding debt.

Bombardier is targeting 150-155 business jet deliveries while growing revenue by $400-600m to $8.6bn from 2023’s $8bn in 2024.

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