Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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John Rodgerson: Steve, I always think it’s a possibility, that’s something that we’ve talked about, but this is about focusing on Azul and I think that’s what we’re very excited about. And so when you look at our BRL20 billion of revenue this year, the EBITDA performance, the cash gap flows and the cash flows going into ’24 and beyond that assumes no cooperation consolidation anything along those lines. We’ll study it, if there’s an opportunity there, but you know what, we believe so much in the core business that we’ve built, we’ve got 13,500 passionate crew members that are delivering on a daily basis to deliver an unbelievably great experience. And as I said earlier, one of the most profitable airlines in the world, we just had an overhang because of COVID and the devaluation of our currency and we’ve addressed that and we’ve addressed that in a big way, and as Alex said, it’s not a stop gap, it’s not a band-aid, we’ve addressed it once and for all and we’re ready to move forward.

Stephen Trent: Really appreciate that John. And if I could just follow-up real quickly on one item, I spent most of the last two months hearing from your U.S.-based counterparts about challenges trying to find pilots, how are you guys seeing it down there in terms of your pilot supply? Thank you.

Abhi Shah: Hey, Steve. Brazil has a really rich history of aviation and so we have a great pipeline of flight schools that we partner with. We actually use even our caravan operation as a mini flight school inside of Azul to prepare our pilots to enter into our fleet. So we’re not seeing any constraints when it comes to pilots or even staffing overall. And we’re actually more efficient right now, and so — in terms of our overall staffing, but no limitations in terms of pilot hiring.

Stephen Trent: Okay, very clear. Thanks, Abhi, I’ll leave it there.

John Rodgerson: Thanks, Stephen.

Operator: Okay. Thank you. The next question comes from Stefan Styk, sell-side analyst, Bank of America. Stefan, we’re going to open your audio so that you can ask your question, please proceed.

Stefan Styk: This is Stefan Styk with Bank of America. Thanks for taking my questions today. I wanted to ask on the new 2030 notes, will these be secured or unsecured and can you provide any other details on the terms like size, interest rate, potential call, schedule and things like that? And then my other question is on the capital plans slide, it seems to imply that there is something coming up with bondholders and potentially a new money component as well. Can you expand on what options you’re seeing here as well as your potential planning? Thank you.

Alex Malfitani: Thanks, Stefan. The 2030 notes are unsecured will — like we talked about, we are very excited to share more details. And as we normally do, right, I think you know us for our transparency, we just want to be really finalized with all of our lessors before we do that, but we will provide that information in due time. Obviously, I think similarly to the valuation that we’re talking about to the equity, the coupon and debt, the cost of debt on this instrument is nowhere near the levels that you’re seeing on the screen because again they do not reflect the health of the restructured company. The interest that we will pay will be reflective of the improved cash generation, the stronger balance sheet and the reduced credit risk, and like I said, we’ll provide that as soon as we can.

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