Well Positioned to Benefit from Strong Macro
Tailwinds and Market Leadership
Significant Expansion Opportunities in
the United States and Central America, with
Additional Expected Upside from Likely Category 1 Upgrade
Young, Fuel-efficient Fleet with Best-in-Class
Aircraft Utilization
Strong Financial Profile; Committed to
Doubling Revenue, EBITDAR, and Free Cash Flow Generation Over Next
Three Years Versus Pre-Pandemic Levels
Company to Host Investor Day at the New York
Stock Exchange Today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern
Time
MEXICO
CITY, Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Controladora
Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: VLRS and
BMV: VOLAR) ("Volaris" or "The Company"), the ultra-low-cost
carrier (ULCC) serving Mexico,
the United States, Central, and
South America, is hosting its 2022
Investor Day today and providing an overview of the Company's
strategic vision and growth avenues. Volaris will also outline its
short- and long-term priorities to maximize value for customers,
shareholders, and employees.
"The plans we will present today demonstrate how we will aim to
leverage Volaris' strengths and unique ultra-low-cost business
model to deliver superior returns to shareholders over the long
term," said Enrique Beltranena,
Chief Executive Officer. "Despite significant disruptions during
the past three years, Volaris has successfully navigated
Covid-related challenges to capture market share, manage costs and
solidify our position as one of the largest foreign operators in
terms of flights in the U.S., all while advancing our mission to
enable more people to travel well."
Beltranena continued, "Mexico's
favorable demographic and economic trends, together with
recent consolidation in the Mexican airline industry, has
enabled Volaris to achieve one of the healthiest
EBITDAR margins in the airline industry globally and create
significant opportunities for continued growth both
domestically in Mexico and
abroad. Reaching 10 million first-time fliers is clear
evidence of the way discretionary travel spend is now allocated,
shifting from bus to air travel. Additionally, Volaris is
well-positioned to benefit from the likely return to FAA Category 1
status in 2023, which we expect to enable additional routes to the
U.S. and drive further opportunities. Looking ahead, we will
continue to deepen our engagement with our passengers, expand our
routes into new markets, maintain our strong balance sheet and
competitive cost advantage, and lean on our experienced team to
continue driving our strategies forward."
At today's event, Volaris will highlight the following:
- Low-cost leadership: As one of the lowest cost operators
in the world, Volaris leverages its ultra-low-cost business model
with the goal of creating a virtuous cycle for profitable growth.
Volaris has one of the youngest and most efficient fleets in the
Americas, with NEOs representing 52% of the total fleet. Volaris
expects NEOs to make up 54% of its fleet by year-end, in a path to
an all-NEO fleet by 2027. The fleet plan that will be discussed in
more detail during today's presentations enables further cost
reduction and passenger capacity that can be adjusted based on
market dynamics, naturally hedging against higher fuel prices.
- High growth opportunities: Mexico is an attractive investment market with
effective monetary policy and strong USD inflows, an expanding
middle class, and favorable tailwinds such as increased economic
activity from nearshoring. Additionally, Mexico's aviation market is in its early
stages of growth, and Volaris is positioned to benefit from trends
like bus switching as travelers who have traditionally preferred
bus travel due to cost and convenience make the switch to air
travel. In 2006, Mexicans averaged 0.2 trips per capita per year.
Today, they average 0.55 trips per capita, with around 35% of this
growth being directly attributed to Volaris. Meanwhile, many
Central American markets share the same economic profile as
Mexico, which we expect will
provide a premier source of growth in parallel as airlines increase
service in that region.
- Market and profitability leadership: Consistently among
the most profitable airlines in the Americas, Volaris has
successfully capitalized on opportunities created by industry
consolidation and attrition among peers following Covid-19 to
become a market leader. As of November 30,
2022, Volaris is the leading carrier in Mexico by market share and total passengers,
where three Mexican carriers collectively hold more than 98% of
market share, showing great potential for further EBITDAR
expansion.
- Financial strength: Volaris' disciplined approach to
containing controllable costs has enabled the Company to maintain a
competitive advantage against peers, with the ability to flex up or
down as necessary based on demand and operating environment. As a
result, Volaris today has a strong and flexible balance sheet and
an attractive financial debt profile, and current levels of
liquidity are more than sufficient to cover near-term debt
maturities.
Medium-Term Financial
Goals
Over the next three years, Volaris aims to double its revenue,
EBITDAR, and free cash flow generation versus pre-pandemic levels
(2019).
Webcast Replay
To access a replay of today's Investor Day presentations and
slides presented, visit Volaris' Investor Relations website at
https://ir.volaris.com/ under Events & presentations.
About Volaris:
Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V.
("Volaris" or the "Company") (NYSE: VLRS and BMV: VOLAR), is an
ultra-low-cost carrier, with point-to-point operations, serving
Mexico, the United States, Central, and South America. Volaris offers low base fares
to build its market, providing quality service and extensive
customer choice. Since the beginning of operations in March 2006, Volaris has increased its routes from
5 to more than 200, and its fleet from 4 to 116 aircraft. Volaris
offers more than 500 daily flight segments on routes that connect
43 cities in Mexico and 28 cities
in the United States, Central, and
South America, with one of
the youngest fleets in Mexico. Volaris targets passengers who are
visiting friends and relatives, cost-conscious business and leisure
travelers in Mexico, the United States, and Central and
South America. Volaris has
received the ESR Award for Social Corporate Responsibility for
eleven consecutive years. For more information, please visit
www.volaris.com.
This press release was prepared by Controladora Vuela Compañía
de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (d/b/a Volaris, the "Company") with the
purpose of providing interested parties certain financial and other
information about the Company. This press release is solely for
discussion purposes and highlights basic information about the
Company. Because it is a summary, it does not contain all the
information that you should consider before investing in the
securities of the Company. This press release should be read in
conjunction with the periodic reports and other information filed
by Volaris with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")
and the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission
(Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores) ("CNBV"). You may access
the SEC filings for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website
(www.sec.gov) and the CNBV filings at the CNBV website
(www.gob.mx/cnbv).
This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer
or invitation for sale or subscription of or solicitation or
invitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for any securities, nor
shall it or any part of it form the basis of or be relied on in
connection with any contract or commitment whatsoever. Recipients
of this press release are not to construe the contents of this
press release as legal, tax or investment advice and should consult
their own advisers in this regard.
Cautionary Statement Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements and Information
Statements in this press release contain various forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the US Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent the Company's
expectations, beliefs or projections concerning future events and
financial trends affecting the financial condition of our business.
When used in this release, the words "expects," "intends,"
"estimates," "predicts," "plans," "anticipates," "indicates,"
"believes," "forecast," "guidance," "potential," "outlook," "may,"
"continue," "will," "should," "seeks," "targets" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Similarly, statements that describe the Company's objectives, plans
or goals, or actions the Company may take in the future, are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include,
without limitation, statements regarding the Company's intentions
and expectations regarding the delivery schedule of aircraft on
order, potential new service routes, the Company's ability to drive
Mexican domestic demand growth and predict future fleet ownership
costs and customer savings programs. Forward-looking statements
should not be read as a guarantee or assurance of future
performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate
indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or
results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are
based on information available at the time those statements are
made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with
respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially
from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to several
factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ
materially from the Company's expectations, including the
competitive environment in the airline industry; the Company's
ability to keep costs low; changes in fuel costs; the impact of
worldwide economic conditions on customer travel behavior; the
Company's ability to generate non-ticket revenue; and government
regulation. Additional information concerning these and other
factors is contained in the Company's US Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. All forward-looking statements attributable to
us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements set forth
above. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of
this release. You should not put undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update
forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in
assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking
information, except to the extent required by applicable
law. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no
inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with
respect to those or other forward-looking statements. The risks and
uncertainties regarding these forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, those set forth under the heading "Risk
Factors" in the Company's Report on Form 20-F for the year ended
December 31, 2021, and in the
Company's other filings with the SEC, which are available at
www.sec.gov.
Non-IFRS Financial
Measures
In addition to financial information prepared in accordance with
the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), this
press release includes certain non-IFRS financial measures,
including EBITDAR and EBITDAR margin. We believe non-IFRS financial
measures are useful indicators of our operating performance. We
believe the non-IFRS numbers provided are well recognized
performance measurements in the airline industry that are
frequently used by our management, as well as by investors,
securities analysts and other interested parties in comparing the
operating performance of companies in our industry. Reconciliations
of such information to the most directly comparable IFRS financial
measures are included in the Appendix to the Investor Day
presentations and slides, which can be accessed as described above.
The non-IFRS measures have limitations and may not be comparable
across all carriers, and you should not consider them in isolation
or as a substitute for our IFRS financial information.
Statistical Data, Estimates and
Forecasts
This press release contains statistical data, estimates and
forecasts that are based on independent publications or other
publicly available information, as well as other information based
on our internal sources. This information involves many assumptions
and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to
these estimates. We have not independently verified the accuracy or
completeness of the data contained in these industry publications
and other publicly available information. Accordingly, we make no
representations as to the accuracy or completeness of that data nor
do we undertake to update such data after the date of this press
release.
Investor Relations Contact
Ricardo Martínez /
ir@volaris.com
Media Contact
Gabriela Fernández /
gabriela.fernandez@volaris.com
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SOURCE Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. -
Volaris