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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
9 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

2.

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") and include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned operating subsidiaries. Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative United States generally accepted accounting principles as found in the Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") and Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"). All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Reclassifications of certain immaterial prior period amounts have been made to conform to the current period presentation.

These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto as of and for the year ended September 30, 2020 included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2020 on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements have been condensed or omitted in these condensed consolidated financial statements pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC and GAAP. These condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments that, in the opinion of management, are necessary to present fairly the results of operations for the interim periods presented.

The Company is an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act") and may remain an emerging growth company until the last day of its fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the Company’s initial public offering (“IPO”), subject to specified conditions. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. The Company has elected to "opt out" of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

Segment Reporting

As of June 30, 2021, our chief operating decision maker was the Chief Executive Officer. While the Company operates under separate capacity purchase agreements and a flight services agreement, we do not manage our business based on any performance measure at the individual contract level. Our chief operating decision maker uses consolidated financial information to evaluate our performance and allocate resources, which is the same basis on which he communicates our results and performance to our Board of Directors. Accordingly, we have a single operating and reportable segment.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

 

 

Contract Revenue and Pass-through and Other Revenue

 

The Company recognizes contract revenue when the service is provided under its capacity purchase agreements and flight services agreement. Under the capacity purchase agreements and flight services agreement, our major partners generally pay for each departure, flight hour or block hour, and an amount per aircraft in service each month with additional incentives based on flight completion, on-time performance, and other operating metrics. The Company’s performance obligation is met as each flight is completed, and revenue is recognized and reflected in contract revenue.

 

Contract revenue also includes temporary rate reductions under our capacity purchase agreements impacting the period from December 2020 to September 2021. The basis for the reductions is temporary improvements in our cost structure being passed onto our major partners, primarily from lower labor costs due to the grants received under the Payroll Support Program Extensions (PSP2 and PSP3).

 

A portion of the Company's compensation under its capacity purchase agreements with American and United is designed to reimburse the Company for certain aircraft ownership costs. Such costs include aircraft principal and interest debt service costs, aircraft depreciation, and interest expense or aircraft lease expense costs while the aircraft is under contract. The Company has concluded that a component of its revenue under these agreements is deemed to be lease revenue, as such agreements identify the "right of use" of a specific type and number of aircraft over a stated period-of-time. The lease revenue associated with the Company's capacity purchase agreements is accounted for as an operating lease and is reflected as contract revenue on the Company's consolidated statements of operations. The Company recognized $41.2 million and $52.0 million of lease revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and $131.8 million and $157.7 million during the nine months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The Company has not separately stated aircraft rental income and aircraft rental expense in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income because the use of the aircraft is not a separate activity from the total service provided under our capacity purchase agreements.    

 

The Company recognizes pass-through revenue when the service is provided under its capacity purchase agreements and flight services agreement. Pass-through revenue represents reimbursements for certain direct expenses incurred including passenger liability and hull insurance, property taxes, other direct costs defined within the capacity purchase agreements, and major maintenance on aircraft leased at nominal rates. The Company’s performance obligation is met when each flight is completed or as the maintenance services are performed, and revenue is recognized and reflected in pass-through and other revenue.

 

The Company entered into lease agreements with GoJet Airlines LLC (“GoJet”) to lease 12 CRJ-700 aircraft as of June 2021. The lease agreements are accounted for as operating leases and have a term of nine (9) years beginning on the delivery date of each aircraft. Under the lease agreements, GoJet pays fixed monthly rent per aircraft and variable lease payments for supplemental rent based on monthly aircraft utilization at fixed rates. Supplemental rent payments are subject to reimbursement following GoJet’s completion of qualifying maintenance events defined in the agreements. Lease revenue for fixed monthly rent payments is recognized ratably within contract revenue. Lease revenue for supplemental rent is deferred and recognized within contract revenue when it is probable that amounts received will not be reimbursed for future qualifying maintenance events over the lease term.

 

The Company mitigates the residual asset risks through supplemental rent payments and by leasing aircraft and engine types that can be operated by the Company in the event of a default. Additionally, the operating leases have specified lease return condition requirements and the Company maintains inspection rights under the leases. As of June 30, 2021, the Company recognized $10.1 million of lease incentive assets and $8.8 million of related lease incentive obligations for reimbursement of certain aircraft maintenance costs defined within the lease agreements. Lease incentive assets are recognized as a reduction to lease revenue over the lease term.

 

 

 

Lease revenue recognized under the GoJet agreements, net of amortization of the lease incentive assets, was $3.4 million and $4.0 million for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2021, respectively. Amounts deferred for supplemental rent payments totaled $0.2 million as of June 30, 2021. The following table summarizes future minimum rental income under operating leases related to leased aircraft that had remaining non-cancelable lease terms as of June 30, 2021 (in thousands):

 

Periods Ending

September 30,

 

Total Payments

 

2021 (remainder of)

 

$

3,276

 

2022

 

 

13,104

 

2023

 

 

13,104

 

2024

 

 

13,104

 

2025

 

 

13,104

 

Thereafter

 

 

59,029

 

Total

 

$

114,721

 

 

The Company records deferred revenue when cash payments are received or are due from our major partners in advance of the Company’s performance, including amounts that are refundable. During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2021, the Company deferred $1.9 million and $12.0 million of revenue, respectively, which was billed and paid by our major partners.

 

The deferred revenue balance as of June 30, 2021 represents our aggregate remaining performance obligations that will be recognized as revenue over the period in which the performance obligations are satisfied, and is expected to be recognized as revenue as follows (in thousands):

 

Periods Ending

September 30,

 

Deferred Revenue Recognized

 

2021 (remainder of)

 

$

1,825

 

2022

 

 

7,388

 

2023

 

 

10,101

 

2024

 

 

9,860

 

2025

 

 

4,621

 

Thereafter

 

 

1,956

 

Total

 

$

35,751

 

 

 

Aircraft Leases

As discussed in Note 1, we lease, at nominal rates, certain aircraft from United and DHL under our United Capacity Purchase Agreement and DHL Flight Services Agreement, which are excluded from operating lease assets and liabilities as the lease contracts do not represent embedded leases under ASC 842. Other than nominal leases with our major partners, approximately 10% of our aircraft are leased from third parties. All of our aircraft leases have been classified as operating leases, which results in rental payments being charged to expense over the term of the related leases. In the event that we or one of our major partners decide to exit an activity involving leased aircraft, losses may be incurred. In the event that we exit an activity that results in exit losses, these losses are accrued as each aircraft is removed from operations for early termination penalties, lease settle up and other charges. Additionally, any remaining ROU assets and lease liabilities would be written off.

 

The majority of the Company's leased aircraft are leased through trusts that have a sole purpose to purchase, finance, and lease these aircraft to the Company; therefore, they meet the criteria of a variable interest entity. However, since these are single-owner trusts in which the Company does not participate, the Company is not at risk for losses and is not considered the primary beneficiary. Management believes that the Company's maximum exposure under these leases is the remaining lease payments.

 

Contract Liabilities

Contract liabilities consist of deferred credits for cost reimbursements from major partners related to aircraft modifications and employee training associated with capacity purchase agreements. The deferred credits are recognized over time depicting the pattern of the transfer of services resulting in ratable recognition of revenue over the remaining term of the capacity purchase agreements.

 

Current and non-current deferred credits are recorded to other accrued expenses and non-current deferred credits in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company's total current and non-current deferred credit contract liability balances at June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2020 are $5.0 million and $8.5 million, respectively. The Company recognized $0.2 million and $0.9 million of the deferred credits within contract revenue during the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and $2.1 million and $2.9 million during the nine months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Maintenance Expense

The Company operates under a Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) approved continuous inspection and maintenance program. The cost of non-major scheduled inspections and repairs and routine maintenance costs for all aircraft and engines are charged to maintenance expense as incurred.

 

The Company accounts for heavy maintenance and major overhaul costs on its owned E-175 fleet under the deferral method whereby the cost of heavy maintenance and major overhaul is deferred and amortized until the earlier of the end of the useful life of the related asset or the next scheduled heavy maintenance event. Amortization of heavy maintenance and major overhaul costs charged to depreciation and amortization expense was $0.1 million for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020. At June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2020, the Company had a deferred heavy maintenance balance, net of accumulated amortization, of $2.8 million and $0.0 million, respectively.

 

The Company accounts for heavy maintenance and major overhaul costs for all other fleets under the direct expense method whereby costs are expensed to maintenance expense as incurred, except for certain maintenance contracts where labor and materials price risks have been transferred to the service provider and require payment on a utilization basis, such as flight hours. Costs incurred for maintenance and repair for utilization maintenance contracts where labor and materials price risks have been transferred to the service provider are charged to maintenance expense based on contractual payment terms.

Engine overhaul expense totaled $4.0 million and $3.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, and 2020, respectively, of which $2.7 million and $0.4 million, respectively, was pass-through expense. Engine overhaul expense totaled $25.3 million and $28.3 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2021, and 2020, respectively, of which $14.5 million and $3.0 million, respectively, was pass-through expense. Airframe C-check expense totaled $14.1 million and $2.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, and 2020, respectively, of which $5.6 million and $0.8 million, respectively, was pass-through expense. Airframe C-check expense totaled $38.3 million and $20.6 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2021, and 2020, respectively, of which $18.3 million and $5.9 million, respectively, was pass-through expense.

Government Grant

In February 2021, the Company was granted $48.7 million in financial assistance by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Payroll Support Program Extension (“PSP2”) under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. In March 2021, the Company was notified that, based on funding availability, recipients that were currently in compliance with executed PSP agreements would receive an additional award amount. As a result, the Company received an additional $7.3 million through PSP2 in April 2021 for a total grant of $56.0 million. PSP2 funding must be used exclusively for the continuation of payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits and is conditioned on our agreement to refrain from conducting involuntary employee layoffs or furloughs from the date of the extension agreement through March 2021. Other conditions include prohibitions on share repurchases and dividends through March 2022 and certain limitations on executive compensation until October 2022. The Department of Transportation also has the authority until March 1, 2022 to require airlines that received payroll support program funds to maintain scheduled air service deemed necessary to any point served by the airline before March 1, 2020.

On April 15, 2021, the Company was notified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that it was eligible to receive funds under the third Payroll Support Program (“PSP3”), which was created under the American Recovery Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), enacted on March 11, 2021. PSP3 provides additional funding for passenger air carriers and contractors that received financial assistance under PSP2. The funding must be used exclusively for the continuation of payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits. The Company was granted $52.2 million and received the first PSP3 installment of $26.1 million in April 2021 and the second installment of $26.1 million in May 2021. These payments are conditioned on our agreement to refrain from conducting involuntary employee layoffs or furloughs through September 2021 or the date on which assistance provided under the agreement is exhausted, whichever is later. Other conditions include prohibitions on share repurchases and dividends through September 2022 and certain limitations on executive compensation until April 2023.

 

During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2021, the Company recognized $26.1 million and $93.4 million, respectively, for the payroll support government funds. During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2020, the Company recognized $43.0 million for the payroll support government funds. As of June 30, 2021, there are $26.1 million of deferred payments remaining under PSP3, which are recorded within other accrued liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets and will be recognized as a reduction of operating expenses during the quarter ended September 30, 2021.