AerCap Holdings N.V. Q3 FY2024 Earnings Call

Good day everyone, and welcome to the AerCap's Q3 2024 Financial Results. Today's conference is being recorded and a transcript will be available following the call on the company's website. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Joseph McGinley, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter 2024 conference call. With me today is our Chief Executive Officer, Aengus Kelly; and our Chief Financial Officer, Pete Juhas. Before we begin today's call, I would like to remind you that some statements made during this conference call which are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events that differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. AerCap undertakes no obligation other than that imposed by law to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after this call. Further information concerning issues that could materially affect performance can be found in AerCap's earnings release dated October 30th, 2024. A copy of the earnings release and conference call presentation are available on our website at aercap.com. This call is open to the public and is being webcast simultaneously at aercap.com and will be archived for replay. We will shortly run through earnings presentation and will allow time at the end for Q&A. As a reminder, I would ask that analysts limit themselves to one question and one follow-up. Given the ongoing court case, we will not be taking any questions regarding our insurance claims on this call. I'll now turn the call over to Aengus Kelly.

Thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2024 earnings call. I am pleased to report another quarter of strong earnings for AerCap, generating adjusted net income of $463 million and adjusted earnings per share of $2.41. We also continue to generate very strong operating cash flows across the business, reaching a record $5.6 billion for the last 12 months. These results reflect the widespread demand for our assets, the ongoing constraints on OEM deliveries and our continued focus on execution. As a result, we are pleased to increase our earnings guidance for the year from $10.25 to approximately $10.70. As a reminder, our guidance does not include any gains on sale in the fourth quarter. We have spoken many times about how we expect the supply constraints to persist for many years to come, which we expect will continue to add further upward pressure to aircraft and engine values. This position was further reinforced by the commentary from the various engine and airframer manufacturers over the last fortnight. Despite this backdrop, we continue to improve the quality of our fleet with the delivery of $1.8 billion of new technology aircraft, engines and helicopters in the last quarter. We also added a further $500 million share repurchase authorization in September, taking total authorizations year-to-date to $1.5 billion. And we announced a dividend of $0.25 per share for Q3 which will be paid in early December. Demand for leasing continues to be reflected in our consistently high levels of activity. In Q3, AerCap executed 226 transactions across aircraft, engines and helicopters. This comprised of 160 lease agreements, 41 purchases and 25 sales. Our utilization rate, which measures the percentage of our fleet that is currently on a revenue generating lease, was 99%, the highest since the pandemic. Further, extension rates exceeded 90%, demonstrating continued demand for older aircraft. Both of these measures show the consistent and recurring earnings power of the business and translate into higher cash flows and increased profitability for our shareholders. On the sales side, where the financial benefits are seen more immediately, I am pleased to report another strong quarter of activity, leading to unlevered margins of 27% in the quarter or approximately two times book equity. The aircraft sold had an average age of 17 years and were predominantly sold to airlines or part-head specialists. It always gives me satisfaction and comfort to see aircraft, especially older variants, sell at large gains on sale. This validates our approach to valuation, depreciation and portfolio management. Ultimately, this is the best proof of the conservative nature of the carrying value of AerCap's book equity on our balance sheet. It's your 25-year litmus test and we have done this successfully and consistently for almost two decades. On the purchase side, our investment in new technology equipment continued with the delivery of 27 aircraft including A220s, A320neo family aircraft, 737 MAXs, Embraer E2s and A787. On the engine side, we also took delivery of a further 13 new technology engines including a mix of LEAPs, GenXs, GTFs and one H175 helicopter. The Boeing strike, which began in mid-September, did not have much of an impact on deliveries given it occurred so late in the quarter, though we have not taken delivery of any MAX aircraft since then. Given the ongoing strike, it's hard to predict what impact this will have on the rest of the year, but we have so far pushed eight aircraft from 2024 into 2025 and subsequently into 2026. We are also seeing delays at Airbus, and as you'll see from our updated delivery schedule, we have moved 15 A320neo family aircraft out of 2025 and into 2026. So, as we have said in the past, this is not just one manufacturer's issue. To wrap up, with global traffic growing at 12% year-on-year through August and the delivery delays from the aircraft and engine OEM set to continue through the end of this decade, the environment for aircraft leasing remains strong, underpinning the profits and cash flows of our business. This dynamic and the broad-based demand for AerCap's assets supported a record operating cash flow performance and a positive outlook for AerCap's future. With that, I will hand the call over to Pete for a detailed review of our financial performance and favorable outlook for 2024. Thank you.

Thanks, Gus. Good morning, everyone. Our GAAP net income for the third quarter was $375 million or $1.95 per share. The impact of purchase accounting adjustments was $107 million for the quarter or $0.56 a share. That included lease premium amortization of $31 million, which reduced basic lease rents, maintenance rights amortization of $44 million, which reduced maintenance revenue, and maintenance rights amortization of $32 million, which increased leasing expenses. We also had $4 million of recoveries related to the Ukraine conflict. The tax effect of the purchase accounting adjustments was $16 million or $0.8 a share. So, taking all of that into account, our adjusted net income for the third quarter was $463 million or $2.41 per share. I'll briefly go through the main drivers that affected our results for the third quarter. Basic lease rents were $1,605 million, an increase from $1,568 million in the second quarter. Basic lease rents reflected $31 million of lease premium amortization, which reduces basic lease rents. As a reminder, lease premium assets are amortized over the remaining term of the lease as a reduction to basic lease rents. Maintenance revenues for the third quarter were $161 million. That reflects $44 million in maintenance rights assets that were amortized to maintenance revenue during the quarter. In other words, maintenance revenue would have been $44 million higher or $205 million without this amortization. Net gain on sale of assets was $102 million for the third quarter. We sold 22 of our owned assets during the third quarter for total sales revenue of $479 million, that resulted in an unlevered gain on sale margin of 27% for the quarter which was one of the highest margins we've ever had. As of September 30th, we had $521 million worth of assets held for sale including 16 aircraft and 18 engines. Other income was $79 million for the quarter, which consisted primarily of interest income and certain one-time items. Interest income has been higher this year as we're seeing higher interest income in our cash balances due to higher interest rates. Interest expense was $516 million, which included $22 million of non-cash mark-to-market losses on interest rate derivatives. Leasing expenses were $275 million for the quarter. This includes $32 million of maintenance rights amortization expenses as well as a $140 million increase to our credit loss provision. Income tax expense for the third quarter was $61 million, which represented an effective tax rate of 15.5%. We continue to maintain a strong liquidity position. As of September 30th, our total sources of liquidity were approximately $23 billion. That compares to uses of around $13 billion resulting in the next 12 months sources uses coverage ratio of 1.8 times and excess cash coverage of around $10 billion. Our leverage ratio at the end of the quarter was 2.4 to 1, basically the same as last quarter. Our operating cash flow was approximately $1.4 billion for the third quarter driven by continued strong cash collections. Our secured debt to total assets ratio was 12% at the end of September, same as last quarter, and our average cost of debt was 4%. During the third quarter, we bought back 5.5 million shares at an average price of $91.03 for a total of $497 million. We also paid our second quarterly dividend of $0.25 a share. Our book value per share was $90.66 as of September 30th, an increase of 16% over the last 12 months notwithstanding our payments of $0.50 a share in dividends during that time. On our last earnings call, we raised our guidance for full year adjusted EPS to around $9 excluding gains on sale, plus $1.25 of gains on sale in the first half of the year, for total guidance of $10.25 for the full year. We're still expecting around $9 of EPS for the full year excluding gains on sale. We had another $0.45 of gains during the third quarter, so we're now raising our overall guidance for full year 2024 to around $10.70, not including any gains on sale for the fourth quarter. Overall, AerCap continued to perform very strongly during the third quarter. We continue to see a strong environment for leasing, which you can see from our utilization rate of 99%. It's also a strong environment for aircraft sales, which was reflected in the volume of sales and the very high gain on sale margin this quarter, as well as in the $521 million of assets we currently have held for sale. We're continuing to generate strong cash flows that in turn result in greater profitability and more financial flexibility. And we're deploying capital towards attractive aircraft and engine opportunities. We also continue to return capital to shareholders. During the third quarter, we bought back close to $500 million worth of stock, bringing total share repurchases for the first nine months of this year to $1.2 billion. And, of course, we recently announced a new $500 million share repurchase program, that reflects our confidence in the value of AerCap and our outlook for the future. And with that operator, we can now open up the call for Q&A.

Thank you. We'll take your first caller. That will come from Jamie Baker from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. This is James on for Jamie. Can you hear me?

Yes. We can, of course, James.

Okay. Great. I just want to start off with maybe a two-part question on the macro picture and the relationship between easing global interest rates and the ongoing supply shortage. First part, do you think as capital becomes cheaper to raise, is there any fear of more undisciplined capital entering the space, or is it really not a concern with lease rates kind of having to remain strong here? And then the second question, has there been any pushback from the airlines that lease rates relative to margins are approaching untenable levels? I guess, we're just hearing that there has been some airlines that are starting to kind of say that lease rates here are too high?

Well, in the first question regarding the movement in interest rates and how that is affecting the sector, as it relates to new capital being raised, I mean, the sector has proven itself to be a very attractive sector over the last 15 odd years. It's a hard dollar asset, the value of the asset is fairly stable. That's something that people realized in particular through COVID and the various issues before that, that people see this as a very stable asset and one that's highly investable. So, whether interest rates were high or low, we've seen solid demand from investors. And that really is as the industry has matured and become much bigger over the course of the last 10, 15 years, there's been a steady increase in understanding of the industry. And you see that, of course, in asset sales, the people we sell to are smart people and they understand the value of the assets and they understand that it's a fairly durable and steady return those assets will generate. So, I wouldn't be concerned about movements in interest rates as to how it's impacting the sector. Generally speaking, of course, low interest rates will bring in the extra marginal buyer of assets, which is no harm given that we're a seller to those guys. As it relates then to the airlines and the lease rates, I mean, that's some airlines talk in their own book. That's rubbish. And candidly, lease rates are such a tiny fraction of an airline's P&L, they're completely and utterly meaningless. One fraction of an increase of a pilot's unions contract is what they should be looking at. That has many, many, many more multiples and impacts than anything to do with lease rates. Just look at the P&L of an airline. For an airline to say that, you'd have to question their competence.

Completely understand. And that's helpful. Thanks. I guess for a second question, just on the sales environment, 27% gain on sales this quarter. I know you can't comment too far ahead, but is there any reason, given the macro backdrop that isn't sustainable into 2025? And I guess, just a broader question, if you can remind us kind of what is the relationship between interest rates and the sales environment going to 2025 with a lower rate environment?

Sure. If you're selling a fixed stream of cash flows and interest rates are lower, while the business was written in a higher rate environment, you should benefit, leading to a higher sales price. However, we operate a hedged book, which has contributed to our stable profitability for 20 years by avoiding interest rate risk. When high-yielding assets are sold, it results in higher cost debt. There may also be a breakage charge associated with that. This is crucial for understanding our business. Throughout the years, it has been demonstrated that movements in interest rates do not impact our business performance as long as it is hedged, which we consistently do. Regarding margins, the industry is solid, and we acquire assets effectively. What really sets us apart over time, especially as assets age, is our capability to preserve and maintain their value through in-house expertise in managing shop visits, landing, overhaul visits, and APU visits. Our largest controllable cost isn't depreciation or interest; those are fixed costs incurred upon asset purchase or funding. Instead, it's our maintenance expenditure and the efficiency with which we manage that spending. Ensuring that the engine or airframe is built appropriately maximizes value without overbuilding, which would prevent us from recovering our investment. These factors truly drive value, and we excel at them. Looking ahead to next year, if current trends continue, I expect robust gains. However, we do not sell solely for immediate gains; we focus on optimizing the portfolio for the long term. Asset sales are selected based on long-term value rather than purely for generating quick profits.

James, I want to add one thing regarding the gains from sales. One of the factors we're noticing is that we possess hard assets in an inflationary environment. Regardless of interest rate fluctuations, we are experiencing inflation in the residual values and maintenance conditions of those assets. I believe this is largely contributing to the margins we see across the board.

Got it. That's really good color. I appreciate the color, guys. Thanks.

We'll hear next from Hillary Cacanando from Deutsche Bank.

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Regarding the $140 million credit loss, I was wondering if you could give us a little more detail. Specifically, I was wondering if this had to do with the Azul restructuring or perhaps some other existing accruals. And I guess, more importantly, I just want to make sure that we wouldn't see any additional impairments related to this accrual going forward.

Sure. Hillary, you are correct. That is a provision we have taken against our – the Azul exposure we have. Now there's some background to that, which is that both AerCap and GECAS unusually had significant exposure to the same carrier. It was one of the very rare overlaps of significant exposure, which was generally a highly diversified and complementary customer base. But this was one where we both had exposure. Azul did not go through a restructuring during COVID. So, this is a legacy COVID receivable and the only significant one we have on the balance sheet. There isn't anything else like it on the balance sheet. And we decided to be proactive as is our want and has been our track record and we've taken a provision against it. Maybe Pete, you want to comment on the provision?

Sure. So, Hillary, this is – even though, this is likely to be a fourth quarter event. We thought it made sense to take this provision in the third quarter and really it reflects what we expect to be the outcome of that restructuring. We think we fully provided for it. And as Gus said, I think that's consistent with how we approach these things generally that we always want to be upfront and addressing risks that occur. So, I think we're fully covered there going forward and I wouldn't expect anything else.

And as you noted there in the quarter, despite that, of course, we've hit our number. We've raised the outlook and importantly, cash. You saw a record operating cash number for the last 12 months of $5.6 billion. Industry leading in any metric.

That's great. So yeah, so no further impact in the fourth quarter. That's great. And then you spoke a little bit about Boeing and the supply constraints and also delays from Airbus. And I know that obviously that's really good for the demand for your assets, but is there at some point would you say that could be – Boeing strike, if that continues to go on for months and months, at what point could that be considered harmful for the lessors and for you guys?

Look, none of us want the strike to go on for months and months and months. There's just unintended consequences you can't see from that, Hillary. I suspect it would mainly affect the in-service fleet as well. It won't be immune because you'll need parts, you'll need Boeing's help to repair aircraft, to transition aircraft. There's a lot of unforeseen things that the Boeing strike will affect over time. It's not straightforward, just saying it's a lack of deliveries. There's other things that will come about, because Boeing has a very important place in the aftermarket as well. And so, we would certainly hope for a speedy resolution of the strike.

Okay. So, your fourth quarter guidance does not include any delivery assumptions from Boeing.

We've got – we have some deliveries in the fourth quarter, but we reduced that number, Hillary. We also pushed out about two dozen aircraft out of 2025 to 2026, both Boeing and Airbus just given the ongoing delays.

Got it. Great. Thank you so much.

We'll hear next from Stephen Trent from Citi.

Good morning or – excuse me, good afternoon in your case and thank you for taking my question. I was going to ask – I remember on the last call you mentioned optimizing your global exposure, and how long do you think it takes before you get down to an acceptable level of exposure to the Chinese market? Thank you.

Sure, Stephen. And as we said, we peaked at 21% odd of the portfolio three years ago, I believe it was. Today, we're down to 13.5% and that's going to continue to trend down. So that's a fairly big reduction from 21% a few years ago, now down to 13.5% and it'll continue to keep going down, Stephen. And we said at the start of the year we'd get to down around 13% and that's where I expect us to end up pretty much there anyway.

Great. I appreciate that, Aengus. And just my quick follow up, aircraft lessors have seen some really important market share gains over the past 20 years. And as you think about where things stand today and where they could be three to four years from now, would it be unreasonable to assume that aircraft lessors pick up even more share from the OEMs?

I think they'll pick it up either from the OEMs or from the airlines. I mean, I think that is inevitable. The business has been growing considerably. More and more airlines are realizing that they do have a cost of capital that isn't the price of a convertible bond and that the cost of equity is materially higher to an airline than many have thought in the past. And that I think as new management teams come in and they look at it and say, it's the best use of our capital just to sit on hard assets that we don't really know how to trade that yes, they carry our passengers on, but we must be one of the very few forms of transport that still insists on owning a significant portion of those assets. And having what I would look at for some of them, deeply inefficient approach to capital allocation. So, I think that's going to change. I think investors will force that change one way or the other, particularly post-COVID as new types of investors are starting to come into airlines and airlines are reacting to it. Though I would imagine that the days there the dinosaurs are left behind. Airlines that are focused on trying to own most of their fleets, don't see it happening. So I think for that reason alone, not to mention the fact that they need lessors anyway, I'd be pretty confident that the market share of lessors will continue to grow. As you say, it's been extremely strong growth over the last 15 years by value. I'm sure we're well past 50% of the world fleet today in the hands of lessors.

That's super helpful. Thanks so much.

We'll move next to Moshe Orenbuch from TD Cowen.

Great, thanks. And maybe just as a follow up to that, Gus, given that you're well below better than your leverage target, you've got significant capacity as we sit here and the deliveries are continually delayed, do you think the scenario that you just laid out manifests itself over the next couple of quarters or do you think there's going to be a period of more accelerated buybacks first then followed by that? How do you think it plays out from an industry standpoint, and how AerCap participates in that?

Well, Moshe, as you know, we are indifferent to what avenue we choose to deploy capital. The key is that it's in the best interests of the shareholders of the company in the long-term and creates the best value for them. And so, if that happens to be, a deal like we did during the year where we took over as part of an airline's order book or like as we said, we just announced another large share buyback program. We've been buying back a lot of shares and you saw us of course buy a lot of engines during the year as well, whichever offers the best opportunity. It is important to note though that while the CapEx has been deferred, it hasn't been eliminated and it is coming down the track too. So in some respects, if you spend it all today, you are borrowing from the future a little bit. Something we have never done because we have always put the balance sheet first. But certainly look, we have been big buyers of the stock program. You are right. The balance sheet has delevered. The operating cash flow of the business is extremely robust and don't forget, of course, that operating cash flow excludes gain on sale. But as I said, we will deploy the capital where we think it creates the most value for the shareholders.

Got it. Just as a quick follow up on the Azul restructuring. I mean, congrats on getting ahead of the financial impact. Just wanted to just make sure that that's your view, that this is the P&L impact and going forward it should have only whatever you realize from the planes from a revenue standpoint.

Yeah. That is our view, Moshe. I mean, look, we think that we have fully provided for it. That was our intention. Certainly, the restructuring is still in process. Right? So, we'll have to see how that plays out. But we think that however that happens, we believe that we're fully provided here.

Great. Thanks so much, Pete.

We'll move next to Ron Epstein from Bank of America.

Hey, guys. Good morning or good afternoon. Quick question. If we go back to the investor event, the Capital Markets Day, you mentioned, Gus, when you thought you'd see supply and demand balancing out in the narrowbody market, I think you mentioned kind of what the late 2020 timeframe, given where production has gone since you guys spoke to the market. Airbus seems to be behind where everybody thought they would be and Boeing most certainly is. Where do you think that happens now? When do you get into equilibrium for kind of aircraft supply and demand in particular in the narrowbody market? When does that happen now?

Well – and Ron, it's a fair question and you're right at the Capital Markets Day, I said the end of the decade, the late 2000s. I think that's probably now, right at the end of the decade, maybe '29, 2030, before that happens. As you pointed out, it's not just focused on Boeing. Of course, Airbus have their challenges also. But I suppose the best that's commentary. But the tangible data I can point you to is look at the behavior of the customer base of AerCap, the biggest owner of aircraft in the world. What are our customers doing on a global basis with older assets? Are they handing them back? No, hardly ever. What they're doing is buying them, so they have control of their capacity for years to come. If they thought that this was a short lived issue of a couple of years, which would take us to 2027 almost, they would be asking for lease extensions of a short term nature. But they're our biggest buyer of assets and have been for some time. Further, our extension rates are at 90% the highest ever, which again indicates. And there's longer term extensions, they're not short extensions. And that again indicates what the customer base sees, which is they also subscribe to our view of the world that this is a prolonged issue. And it's not just Boeing and Airbus. It's all about the amount of time that these new assets are spending in the repair shop. Turn times on engines are longer, time on wing of those engines is shorter of these new technology engines, that is one example. The same is true of other aspects of these aircraft, be it auxiliary power units, avionics, things take longer in the shop to come back to repair an overhaul, which means the demand for used aircraft will continue to increase. Because if you had five aircraft of 737-800s, this might be an extreme example. It's not quite this ratio, but for the purposes of the example, you may need six new technology MAXs to have the same number of flying hours. Now that's an extreme example. It's not quite that bad, Ron. But there is a significant amount of time on the ground for these aircraft and that technology ultimately will mature as well. It will get a bit better. We've been way saying that for some time, but I believe that technology will continue to improve slightly, particularly on the engine side. We know there are performance improvements coming that will be installed into these engines, but that all takes a fair bit of time. So – and obviously Pratt and Rolls Royce are at the front of that with the Rolls Royce issues and the Pratt issues.

So that begs two more questions, if I may. One, is the behavior of the customer just changing? I mean, are airlines readjusting their fleet expectations? Kind of think about sort of a secular shift to just having older fleets. And that's just the way it's going to be. That – we did see this trend towards younger fleets for a while. Is that just kind of permanently reversed? I mean, is everybody just going to keep their airplanes longer? That's my first question. And the second question is, given the environment we're in, does this really beg that the world needs a third manufacturer? And I know there's supply chain constraints…

That's correct right from the beginning. We don't need a third manufacturer, and I don't want one. We already have enough difficulties with two. I don't believe that adding a third would improve the situation. As for airlines, yes, they are keeping their aircraft for longer, but they don't want to do that. You know, Ron, airlines operate on a massive scale, and anything that adds complexity to that operation leads to increased costs, uncertainty, delays, and problems. They are eager to streamline their operations. If it were possible, they would certainly prefer to shift to a single fleet type, a single pilot contract, a unified spare parts pool, and one engine type. Even though this might not always be the most reliable approach, it is more fuel-efficient and, crucially, more operationally efficient. Thus, it's clear they are facing the reality that until Boeing and Airbus can fulfill orders in a timely manner, we will have to extend the lifespan of all our assets.

Got it. Yeah. Thank you.

We'll move next to Chris Stathoulopoulos from Susquehanna International Group.

Good afternoon, everyone. So, following on this supply/demand question here, it does sound like now with the introduction of this strike risk here, that this equilibrium is looking more realistically like an end of decade event. But I guess it might have been, Peter, in your prepared remarks here, when you spoke about the strike and the impact and what I thought was interesting, it's not just the lack of deliveries and that they play a meaningful place in the aftermarket. And that was a point that was interesting to me. And I think some folks at your Investor Day, when you ran through the economics of the aftermarket with the engines and why that's sort of a natural gating factor, the way the OEMs are incentivized never to oversupply the market. So given all that here, and let's assume here that this strike kind of bleeds into the New Year, can you kind of walk us through sort of a little bit more nuanced view as it relates to the aftermarket and Boeing's place in that and then how that you see that playing out with customer behavior in your order book as well. Thank you.

We certainly hope the strike doesn't extend into the New Year. The world needs Boeing, and there are many complexities in the supply chain and aftermarket that aren't visible unless you're involved in the industry. Boeing plays a significant role as a distributor of parts and provides necessary approvals and guidance for aircraft repairs and reconfigurations. For instance, if an airline wants to change the layout of its business class section, Boeing's involvement is required for those updates. Airlines have already planned these changes and purchased the necessary seats, but without Boeing's sign-off on the new designs, progress is stalled. The strike has created numerous challenges, leading to longer turnaround times throughout the supply chain, and we don't anticipate that changing next year. While it's difficult to predict beyond 2026, our outlook for next year indicates prolonged delays. In terms of our order book, airlines prefer a straightforward operating model, aiming for a standardized fleet. They are aware they need to transition to new technology over time, but it's not practical for them to do so within their desired timeframe, leading to ongoing delays. Nevertheless, there is strong demand for our order book. The main challenge remains timely delivery of these assets, and it's reasonable to assume our order book may continue to shift to the right in coming quarters, as we've indicated in our guidance and 6-K filing. I wouldn't be surprised to see that trend persist as we move through the next few quarters.

Thank you. Regarding my second question about your exposure to China, could you provide more details on what you're observing regionally? In the US, based on some selling schedules from the carriers, the supply/demand balance appears to be improving for markets like Transatlantic, Asia, and LaTam. Is there anything notable so far in terms of regional orders or carrier behavior, especially in light of the recent news about the China stimulus? Thank you.

There is consistently strong demand for narrowbody aircraft in China. The domestic market remains robust, and we anticipate that the near international market will improve as visa restrictions ease and passport approvals speed up. We expect growth next year in Southeast Asia and the following year as China continues to reopen. Previously, there was an intention to stimulate the domestic economy, which resulted in a slowdown of passport issuance—this has recently changed. This situation may have been misunderstood; despite concerns about the Chinese economy, it’s possible that the market has been undersupplied for some time due to reduced orders and limited delivery of Boeing aircraft. In contrast, the US market challenges are well documented and do not require further discussion. The Transatlantic market remains the most profitable for long-haul airlines, while the Trans-Pacific market has slowed due to geopolitical tensions between China and the US. Additionally, traffic from Southeast Asia to Europe has decreased because of restrictions on flying over Russian airspace, though Chinese carriers can still operate in that region. However, demand for European flag carriers appears to outstrip that for Chinese flag carriers among customers who can choose between them.

Okay. Thank you.

You're very welcome. And thank you all very much for joining us on the call. And we look forward to talking to you in a few months' time, if not before. Thanks, Alberta. You can end the call.

That does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.